Blackwater not operating in Pakistan: Rehman Malik

[Naveed Yaseen]

* Political disputes should be resolved through negotiation
* Kazmi’s staff might have tipped off assailants

LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: Blackwater is not operating in Pakistan, we have our own system, rules and regulations and will not allow any body to operate from here, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Thursday.

Talking to a private TV channel, he said the government would not compromise on the country’s sovereignty and reports regarding the increase in number of US marines were baseless.

He said the US, China and Turkey had applied for extra land for expanding their embassies in Islamabad, but the US embassy had neither applied for grant of additional visa to more Marines, nor had Pakistan permitted them to increase the number of Marines in the embassy.

Disputes: Another private channel quoted the minister as saying that political disputes should be resolved within the country through negotiation and “we should not involve other countries in politics”.

Malik said he had not discussed any political matter, such as the trial of former president Gen ® Pervez Musharraf with the Saudi leadership during his visit to Saudi Arabia. He said a strong democratic system could prevent any dictator from coming into power in the future.

The minister urged political parties to take initiatives for the welfare of the people instead of criticising each other. He said the country needed reconciliation to meet the challenges it faced.

Tip-off: Separately, talking to reporters after visiting Religious Affairs Minister Hamid Saeed Kazmi in hospital, Malik said he suspected that some members of Kazmi’s personal staff might be involved in Wednesday’s attempt on the minister’s life. He said support to the attackers from an “insider” could not be ruled out.

“In such targeted attacks, the assailants carry out the attack on the basis of information provided by someone close to the target. There is a possibility that an official in the ministry with links to terrorists is involved,” he said.

He said Kazmi’s security guards and several other ministry officials were being interrogated and authorities had rounded up several suspects in connection with the incident.

Malik said two pistols and a Kalashinkov rifle had been recovered from the crime scene.

The interior minister said Kazmi had requested a bullet-proof vehicle following threats to his life, but the government could not fulfil his demand as it only had a limited number of such vehicles. “Only seven or eight ministers have bullet-proof vehicles. I myself travel in a privately hired bullet-proof car,” he said.

However, Malik said, President Asif Ali Zardari had ordered the import of several new bullet-proof vehicles in order to ensure security for important personalities. He said all efforts would be made to apprehend the culprits. tahir niaz/daily times monitor/app

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