The Xe-Services (the renamed infamous Blackwater Worldwide) is no longer engaged in confrontational activities with the police and the general public after public outrage against its attitude and has relocated either to suburbs of Islamabad in Sihala Police Training College or to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP), sources told Business Recorder.
Xe had rented around 284 houses in different parts of Islamabad, particularly the posh area of Khayaban-e-Iqbal (Margalla Road). Most of these houses are now vacant and boards of 'To Let' are prominently displayed at these houses. Sources said that there was no construction boom in the diplomatic enclave, which implied their relocation there.
Xe personnel are accused of monitoring activities in tribal areas and, under the garb of development projects in tribal areas, are enhancing their influence in that war-torn region. Elements in Pakistan's security establishment have, reportedly, taken exception to forces such as Xe-Services operating in and around Pakistan. This message was passed on to the American authorities and is one major factor that accounts for Xe personnel's relocation.
The Xe-Services have, however, begun to employ non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civil society organisations in an effort to continue their activities, sources said. The purpose for this is to access information, analyses, contacts and help in pleading the case for US interests in the Pakistani media, of course in subtle ways.
Unconfirmed reports have been circulating in the federal capital that the present government is considering a proposal to construct a US navy base on the coast of Balochistan. If the proposal is approved, then the scale of US operations would expand significantly and the price terms of reducing Xe personnel from operating in Pakistan would be insignificant, sources added.
Denials by US Embassy of any Xe engagement in Pakistan, now or in the past, supported by equally vociferous denials by the Interior Minister Rehman Malik, were recently proved false by a speech delivered by Erik Prince, the owner of the Xe-Services (Blackwater) empire, in January 2010 at the University of Michigan.
The Nation magazine of the United States obtained an audio recording of the speech, which provided a stunning glimpse into his views and future plans and reveals details of previously undisclosed activities of X-Services, a private firm which generates 90 percent of its revenue from the US government.
Prince scornfully dismissed the debate on whether armed individuals working for Xe Services could be classified as "unlawful combatants" who are ineligible for protection under the Geneva Convention. "You know, people ask me that all the time. 'Aren't you concerned that you folks aren't covered under the Geneva Convention in [operating] in the likes of Iraq or Afghanistan or Pakistan?' And I say, 'Absolutely not,' because these people, they crawled out of the sewer and they have a 1200 AD mentality". It is significant that Prince mentioned that his company was operating in Pakistan, given that Blackwater, the US and Pakistan governments have all denied that Blackwater works in Pakistan. "We built four bases, and we staffed them, and we run them," Prince said.