ALERT: Blackwater Operatives’ Night Curfew in Islamabad, Pakistan

‘Blackwater Operatives’ Night Curfew in Islamabad, Pakistan

By Kaswar Klasra

November 16, 2009

Islamabad, Pakistan

ISLAMABAD – Presence of suspicious foreigners (possibly

ISLAMABAD – Presence of suspicious foreigners (possibly operatives of Blackwater/XE Worldwide) in G-6/3, one of the posh sectors of federal capital, has rung alarm bell among the peaceful locals.
A wave of fear and insecurity has been felt among residents of the sector due to alleged presence of operatives of Blackwater and the late night movements of suspicious foreigners and some locals clad in suits.
According to frightened residents of the locality, there has been observed fair amount of activities after 11 pm till dawn. Due to their presence, the locals, most of them government officials, fear for their lives and feel completely insecure keeping in view the Backwater’s role in Iraq.
Some of the residents told on condition of anonymity that one of the alleged operatives of Blackwater/XE Worldwide was seen manhandling a local for having a post-dinner stroll. His only sin was that he dared to come out of his home located in the same street where the alleged operative of the notorious security agency has got a house on rent.

A suspected Blackwater rented house in G-6/3, Islamabad

Following the incident, the residents were so terrified that they hesitated to talk to this reporter about their mighty foreign neighbours. However, they confirmed manhandling of a resident of the locality by a foreigner resident of the same locality.

It is pertinent to note that the foreigners affiliated with the notorious private military contractor Blackwater/XE Worldwide, whose security company Blackwater was later renamed as XE Services LLC (XE Worldwide), arrived in Islamabad during the first week of November.

Former Chief of Army Staff Mirza Aslam Beg claimed that former President Pervez Musharraf had given Blackwater the green signal to carry out its terrorist operations in the cities of Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Peshawar and Quetta.

He also claimed that the Blackwater/XE Worldwide was directly involved in the murder of Benazir Bhutto and Lebanese Rafiq Hariri.

According to the New York Times August 20, 2009 report by Mark Mazzetti, the Central Intelligence Agency in 2004 hired contractors from the private security contractor Blackwater USA as part of a secret programme to locate and assassinate top operatives of Al-Qaeda.

“It has also drawn a controversy. Blackwater/XE Worldwide employees hired to guard American diplomats in Iraq were accused of using excessive force on several occasions, including shootings in Baghdad in 2007 in which 17 civilians were killed. Iraqi officials have since refused to give the company an operating licence.”

“Several current and former government officials interviewed for this article spoke only on the condition of anonymity because they were discussing details of a still classified programme,” the NYT reported.

The newspaper report said that despite publicly breaking with it, the State Department continued to award the company, formerly known as Blackwater, more than $400 million in contracts to fly its diplomats around Iraq, guard them in Afghanistan and train security forces in anti-terrorism tactics at its remote camp in North Carolina.