Deported Blackwater employee back in Pakistan

[Naveed Yaseen]

ISHFAQULLAH SHAWL
ISLAMABAD (September 05 2009): In spite of protests from Pakistani intelligence agencies, an employee of Blackwater World-wide, deported in the first week of August, has been allowed to return to Pakistan, well informed sources told Business Recorder on Friday.

Pakistani intelligence agencies, alerted by residents of the University Town, Peshawar, investigated Craig Davis and found him guilty of engaging in secret parleys with the Taliban leadership without taking any branch of the government into confidence.

This, claim the intelligence agencies, is tantamount to indulging in activities against the sovereignty and security of Pakistan. They then raised the matter with the Interior Ministry and he was deported. Davis is back in Pakistan on a visa, issued by Pakistan Embassy in the US. Three weeks after his deportation, he returned to Pakistan and joined his team in Peshawar and is residing in the same house.

The Interior Ministry alerted the intelligence agencies, and requested them to keep a vigilant check on his activities in this country. Pakistani intelligence agencies have protested with the government on Davis' return to Pakistan. Davis is working for Creative Associates International Inc (CAII), an American company carrying out multi-million-dollar development projects in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).

Informed sources told this scribe that Davis returned due to considerable pressure exerted by the US State Department. The US administration has reportedly asked the government not to disturb its people working for different NGOs in the country. But, they added, the CAII was not an NGO but a contractor.

The Interior Ministry in early 2008 asked the provincial governments to keep an eye on the activities of Blackwater working under the guise of NGOs and US contracting firms, said the sources. When this scribe contacted Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit, he showed ignorance on this matter. He maintained that the issuance of visa was not the subject of the Foreign Office, but the Interior Ministry. He added that Davis was not in the notice of the Foreign Office.

When asked about involvement of any US citizen in anti-Pakistan activities, including meeting with the Taliban leadership in Waziristan, Abdul Basit said that if any foreigner got involved in such activities, his visa stood automatically cancelled. The spokesman denied any US pressure on the government, saying that the Foreign Office defended Pakistan and it was not ready to accept any pressure from outside. "We are not taking any pressure as we are here to defend Pakistan at international for a," he added.

http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=957735