The Pakistan Army last week confirmed it had arrested Gulzar Imam, founder of the Baloch National Army (BNA) separatist movement that has traditionally been supported by hostile intelligence agencies. Imam, in particular, had formalized a nexus with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and was working as a unifying force for the many disparate separatist groups that Islamabad has struggled to counter. The BNA, less than two weeks after its formation in 2022, had claimed responsibility for a bombing in Lahore’s Anarkali area and Imam’s arrest has been described by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) as a major counter-terrorism achievement that is a “serious blow” to terrorist groups. Imam’s brother, Nasir Imam, was a militant with the banned Baloch Liberation Army killed by security forces last year.
Since its inception, Pakistan has been unable to establish the state’s writ along the porous western border, with the Durand Line facilitating the illegal movement of people and smuggling of food items into Afghanistan and Central Asia. Kabul refuses to accept the international border and reports of clashes between Pakistani forces and the Taliban are commonplace. The easy penetrability of the border—often by members of the Baloch minority living in Iran and Afghanistan—has also facilitated links between separatists and India’s intelligence services, as evidenced by the arrest of convicted spy Kulbhushan Jadhav from Balochistan after he entered the country from Iran.
But while Imam is considered one of the three “most influential” commanders of the Baloch separatist insurgency—along with BLA chief Bashir Zaib and Baloch Liberation Front chief Allah Nazar—it is unlikely that it would make a major dent to resurgent terrorism so long as the writ of the state remains weak in areas abutting the western border.