[click image]US Blackwater-Xe mercenaries spread fear in Pakistani town
Mon, 27 Jul 2009 06:26:36 GMT
by Nadeem Sarwar and Aqeel Yousafzai, dpa
Peshawar - Fear is spreading across University Town, an upmarket residential area in Pakistan's north-western city of Peshawar, due to the overt presence of the controversial US private security contractor Blackwater. Sporting the customary dark glasses and carrying assault rifles, the mercenaries zoom around the neighbourhood in their black-coloured armoured Chevy Suburbans, and shout at motorists when occasionally stranded in a traffic jam.
The residents are mainly concerned about Blackwater's reputation as a ruthless, unbridled private army whose employees face multiple charges of murder, child prostitution and weapons smuggling in Iraq.
"Sometimes, these guys stand in the streets and behave rudely with the passers-by, sometimes they point guns at people without provocation" said Imtiaz Gul, an engineer, whose home is a few hundred metres from the US contractor's base on Chanar Road in University Town.
"Who rules our streets, the Pakistani government or the Americans? They have created a state within the state," he added.
Repeated complaints to the authorities have been to no avail since, according to residents.
Blackwater provides security to the employees of Creative Associates International Inc (CAII), an American company carrying out multi-million-dollar development projects in the country's Islamic militancy-plagued Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).
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Yeah, this is what happens when you "give the Americans a few contracts to make them happy"... get used to it.
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