The Interior Ministry on Monday dismissed the impression of existence of US private security agency - Blackwater in the country, however, it admitted that some foreign embassies have hired services of private security agencies due to non-reliance on Pakistani security agencies.
The assurance about the non-existence of Blackwater in the country was given in the meeting of the National Assembly Sanding Committee on Interior that met here at the Parliament House with its Chairman Abdul Qadir Patel in the chair. The members of the committee expressed dissatisfaction over the assurance given by Minister of State for Interior Tasneem Qureshi and Additional Secretary Interior Asif Nawaz Warriach pertaining to non-existence of Blackwater in Pakistan.
They observed that despite the assurance of the Ministry of Interior, reports were being received about the movements of suspicious armed foreigners even in the federal Capital and asked the ministry to submit details to the committee about their identification as well as to get cognisant about the authority which allowed the company to operate in the country.
The Minister of State for Interior categorically rejected the existence of Blackwater, saying that according to reports of the country's intelligence agencies there was no such private security agency operative in the country. He, however, admitted that some foreign embassies have hired services of private security agencies due to non-reliance on security arrangements by Pakistani security agencies.
Chairman of the committee and the members including Bushra Gohar, Bilal Yaseen and Bashir Virk disagreed with the Minister assertion, stating that armed foreigners travelling in tinted glasses vehicles, who had been arrested several times, however released them within hours. Bashir Virk pointed out that Blackwater was working with new name 'Xe Services' and asked the interior ministry to inform the committee whether they were working under any agreement or operating unlawfully. Qureshi, however, said that our intelligence agencies had not reported the existence of any such private security agencies in the country.
The committee also took serious notice of the absence of DG Rangers Sindh to brief the members on the recent violence of targetted killings in Karachi and the steps taken so far to normalise the situation, adding that such kind of attitude would not be tolerated in future.
The committee members expressed serious concern over the increasing incidents of targetted killings in the country's financial hub, Karachi and called upon the government to step up efforts to restore law and order in the country particularly in Karachi.
To discuss the Karachi situation and express solidarity with the people of the city, the committee also convened its next meeting in Sindh to get briefing from Rangers and police over the targetted killings.
Taking up the issue of Bengalis in the country, the committee recommended to the interior ministry either to make laws for their registration or send them back to Bangladesh. The committee was informed that National Aliens Registration Authority (Nara) has been given mandate to register foreigners who have no permission to stay in Pakistan. Nara has registered over 53,000 Bengali aliens and estimated the population of the Bengali aliens in Karachi more than two millions.
The ministry informed the committee that the proposed amendments were being work out in the Foreigners Act because it involves security as well as economic implications. The committee also took up the matter of purchasing of 25 scanners from China on concessional loans and was informed by the Project Director of the Interior Ministry that non-intrusive vehicles X-ray inspection system (NVIS) had been purchased from China under a memorandum of understating signed by the authorities of the two countries.
He said that maturity period of the loan was 25 years. He further said that after thorough negotiations, the Chinese authorities agreed to provide the system at $2.92 million per unit whereas in the international market the price is $4.2. He said the Chinese government provided two scanners as gift, which had been installed at the selected sites of Islamabad - Golra Toll Plaza and Rawat Toll Plaza after obtaining operational License from Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority (PNRA).
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