Iran: Jundallah Chief Arrest Is Not The End, [Thenational.Ae]

This recent arrest could actually lead to more toil for the Iranian and Pakistani security forces as soon as Mr Rigi's followers reorganise.

In a badly directed stage play meant to send signals to neighbours on the other side of the Gulf, Iran claimed on February 23 that it has managed to arrest Abdulmalik Rigi, the leader of the Sunni Balochi organisation called Jundallah (God's Soldiers), without any foreign assistance, wrote Abdullah el Madani, a columnist with the Emirati newspaper Al Ittihad.

"The Iranian story couldn't be further from the truth," the writer quoted the Pakistani ambassador to Tehran, Mohammed Abbasi, as saying. Pakistan had apparently provided Tehran with intelligence without which the Iranians would not have been able to arrest the Jundallah chief, the man who masterminded a number of operations that killed members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

The arrest is a big event, perhaps comparable to the apprehension of the Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan by the Turks.

"But it would be wide off the mark to believe that the Balochi separatist movement in Pakistan and Iran - which fights for the establishment of an independent entity that brings together Balochis scattered between both countries - would consequently lose impetus. Perhaps the contrary is true."

This recent arrest could actually lead to more toil for the Iranian and Pakistani security forces as soon as Mr Rigi's followers reorganise.

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