Pakistan Returns Imran Khan to Prison as Its Army Chief Blames Foreign Proxies for Balochistan Unrest

Pakistan's Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Friday that Imran Khan, the former prime minister and founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, underwent a medical examination at a hospital and was returned to Adiala jail after doctors declared him fit, according to Dawn. The examination followed directives from the Supreme Court issued earlier in the week. Al Jazeera and Kommersant, citing Reuters and Khan's party, reported the transfer back to prison after several days in hospital. Khan's party has repeatedly disputed official accounts of his condition and of his access to family and lawyers. The government says he receives standard treatment.

On the same day, Field Marshal Asim Munir, chief of defence forces and chief of army staff, said foreign-sponsored proxies are being used by hostile elements to destabilise Balochistan, obstruct its development and separate the population from the state, according to the military's media wing. He did not name the states he was referring to. Baloch nationalist groups reject the framing and describe their campaign as a response to resource extraction and enforced disappearances. India has previously denied Pakistani accusations of sponsorship.

Balochistan is where Pakistan's economic future is most concentrated and least secure. The province holds the Gwadar port and the southern segment of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, along with copper and gas deposits. Detaining the country's most popular opposition figure while declaring the largest province a target of foreign subversion describes a state managing two forms of contested legitimacy at once, one electoral and one territorial.