Islamabad under pressure over Blackwater presence

Fri Nov 20, 2009

Islamabad is under pressure to meet a deadline to explain the alleged sanctioning of the presence of a notorious US security contractor, formerly known as Blackwater, on the Pakistani soil.

At the request of the Lahore High Court (LHC), the government is supposed to file an explanation by Friday, November 20, a Press TV correspondent reported.

The court started to press the authorities on the matter, acting on a petition filed by Pakistan's Wattan Party, the Pakistani daily The News International had reported earlier in the month.

Urging the across-the-board disarmament of the Pakistan-based US officials and military personnel as well as prosecution of alleged subversive elements, the party's Punjab President, Hashim Shaukat Khan said the Interior Ministry let 200 Blackwater staffers enter Pakistan without clearing the customs "under American pressure," the newspaper added.

Blackwater, now known as Xe Services LLC, attracted international condemnation for killing 17 civilians in Iraq in 2007. The State Department, however, has refused to waive the company's permission to carry arms there.

It also continues to be extensively involved in Afghanistan where nearly 70,000 US-commissioned contractors almost doubly outnumber the US troops.

Washington has been exceedingly deputizing the companies, which are infamous for misusing their State Department-issued gun licenses. The move has been denounced as an effort at putting a non-military face on the US pursuits overseas.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/111782.html.