By Mashal Khan 

ISLAMABAD - Former chief of the Baloch National Army (BNA), a terrorist group in the southwestern Balochistan province of Pakistan, Gulzar Imam has asked his followers to keep down arms and surrender to Pakistani forces.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Imam said he was on the wrong path to fight against his own state and played in anti-Pakistan elements, causing damages to his country. 

"I was a contractor and believed that there is an unfair distribution of resources in the province," the Express Tribune quoted Imam as saying.

  He belonged to the Prom area of Panjgur in Balochistan and was arrested by Pakistan intelligence last month during a successful operation. 

Imam and his group was involved in dozen terrorist attacks in Pakistan.

Admitted his terror acts, Imam said he was on the wrong path to joined the armed resistance 15 years ago and remained actively engaged until his arrest.

Imam, however, stressed that since his arrest, he had had the opportunity to reflect on his actions and after doing some soul-searching, he had concluded that violence was not the answer, the daily reported.

He added that the political way is the best option to develop our region and change the lives of our people.

On April 7, In a high profile and a successful Intelligence Operation, Lead Intelligence Agency successfully apprehended Gulzar Imam alias Shambay. 

He has been a hardcore militant as well as founder and leader of the banned outfit Baloch National Army (BNA) which came into being after amalgamation of Baloch Republican Army (BRA) and United Baloch Army (UBA), according to ISPR. 

 BNA had been responsible for dozens of violent terrorist attacks in Pakistan including attacks on Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) Installations in Panjgur and Noshki. 

Gulzar Imam also remained as deputy to Brahamdagh Bugti in Baloch Republican Army (BRA) till 2018. He was also instrumental in formation of Baloch Raji Aajoi Sangar (BRAS) and remained its Operational Head. 

However, according to some sources, the brother of Gulzar Imam Shamby was a suicide bomber in Panjoor Blast. 

He had lived in a safe house of a neighboring country. The intelligence operation to capture Shamby was 393 days long. 

He used 1400 fake documents and international 66 institutions in 11 countries to conceal his identity. The intelligence apparatus worked around 21000 hours to capture him after due cooperation and coordination with intelligence agencies of 11 countries.

The success shows, Pakistan’s intelligence linkages and well-coordinated relations with other countries to apprehend a key militant leader and finally captured last month.