God help those who help themselves. Please stop criticizing others and as a nation get together. May Allah have mercy on all muslims around the world !

All articles on black water are interesting, but before rebuking the presence of black water or free masion,mercenaries, mafias in Pakistan, we should REBUKE, REPRIMAND,and curse leaders of the country specially zardari, and Gilani, who are quite silence and observing a silence fast before fasting of “Holy Ramzan”

There is a continuous debate on electronic and print media on daily basis, on presence of this notorious black water organisation in Capital city of Islamabad, Peshawer,and other cities, but Govt of Pakistan take U turn giving one or other pretext,cloaking the real issue.

let me put the whole issue in the right context. Readers and contributors of this debate must keep in mind that every Pakistani should be thankful to America for providing two square meals every day. Without America’s help of millions of tonnes of wheat and cooking oils without which millions of people will die of hunger and starvation. Every Pakistani before eating should thank America for it. America is in and around Pakistan only to prevent those who talk big of hurting America and other peace loving countries and hide behind religious sentiments of uneducated people of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Make no mistake about it, USA has no interest to take over pakistan. Remember a saying in urdu “Why buy a Cow if milk is available eaisly”. If America wants any thing from Pakistan,it can get it by paying its price to those who rule it.
The trgeady in this is that poor people of pakistan are the one who suffer the most and no journalist writes about it.

Omar Saddiqui says:
Blame, Blame, excuses, etc. etc. All the time. The FAULT is ours and ours alone. It is not India , it is not America, it is not Israel. It is us. We are a hypocritical nation.
……………………………………..

See now it is working. The central idea of all the hue and cry by the enemies starting right from our neighborhood and stretching far, very far off countries is to convenience Pakistanis and Muslims to accept that they are the root cause of all problems and that they should confess their sin to get purified, shame. Here I also wish to blame ourselves and make a confession, “O our not so well wishing friends straighten your ears and listen carefully”, With your sugar coated theory you can fool some of us but not all of us. As an example of my affirmation I quote below the observation by a learned man, match it with my words.
“Pakistan army’s casualties were in thousands. Obeying the order to ‘do more’ opened the flood gates of death and destruction throughout the length and breadth of Pakistan. Finally, the US policy has succeeded. Their war had become ours”

it was said speak lies that much that everybody would start beliving it. Islamists are doing so for 1400 years anti-civilization sect of kharjites (which now exist in the disguise of different names like wahaabi,deobandi jamaateislami, salafi) are stirring fuss in the world. they are the real culprits of conspiracy. Why can’t pakistan become a normal country and start acting positively. Who was behind the heinous acts of “Khandhaar Hijacking” “Dehli’s Parliment Attack” , “kargil”, “9 Eleven”, ” so many suicide attacks in Iraq,Afghanistan and Pakistan”, “so much brutality against Shiites”. what the wahaabis want is chaos

first of all if the black water was really working in pakistan, than trust me, no one would have ever known anything about them, especially media! countires like pakistan could be destablized without much ado. here every one is ready to do anything for the sake of money money money

To Black Sabbath:

Wow..Hearing for the first time a Pakistani self introspecting and admitting. Good for you. There should be many more people like you in your country to take it from the mess you people are in.But interacting with other Pakistanis in other forums, I have come to the conclusion that it is a far cry. They just dont admit that Pakistan has a problem!!

Black Sabbath, you are a gem in your country filled with hate.

Cheers,
An Indian

If there is presence of anything like blackwater in pakistan then surely our president and the government knows. Thats what I said before. I didn’t say that there isn’t any use of writing such articles. but blaming america or anyone else is not the solution. My previous comment was published incomplete.

I do not agree on the theory that BW is present in Pakistan. However it is equally appalling to see people talk as if BW does not exist at all..I think the people talking about investigative journalism like their last names were amanpour should do some reading on their own…got google? go look up “Blackwater”

Everything is not a conspiracy theory..well written sana!!

Naive and written with bias. I wish the author had the guts to also call out the Saudi’s and their violations of our laws. Hell what about our own tribals and politicians? There is also no denying Pakistan is a very dangerous country for foriegners – if they wish their embassies to look like forts its cause they feel threatened, arguably rightly so. Don’t scapegoat the Americans, focus on the principle. Is the issue violation of our laws – great but then hold other countries, militias, etc. equally accountable.

Its such a shame of calling oneself a free and sovereign country when one comes to know of such findings… I think the so-called contractual army presence in Pakistan is true. But one gets amazed – where is the government. It should be stopped and government must take action on these reports or else one should be ready for another catastrophe.

Nonsense. JI (Talaban+…) Propaganda.

They take USA money when in power but don’t allow democratic government to do the same thing that they themselves were doing for last 60 years.

Blame, Blame, excuses, etc. etc. All the time. The FAULT is ours and ours alone. It is not India , it is not America, it is not Israel. It is us. We are a hypocritical nation. We had better get our act together or we shall stay a banana republic. We have a big enemy and it is ourselves.

Blackwater, CIA, Raw, Mossad, FBI all conspiracy theories made up by politicians and loose cannon journalists like this author.

First of all to Mr. Rahul’s post, very well said. As a Pakistani i absolutely agree with what you have said. I know i will be ridiculed for agreeing with you and most of the post’s in here, but i have no problem in admitting our faults and mistakes.

But what i do have a problem with is that we don’t learn from our mistakes.We have and are making the same mistakes over and over again. If we don’t get our act together and clean up our house, trust me we wont have a house.

As far as religion goes, every religion of the world is for peace, even though religion has always been the cause of conflict and hatred due to the fact that it has been hijacked by illiterate, ignorant, zealous, narrow minded people (the so called Preachers) who have manipulated the teaching’s to their own liking.

We Pakistani’s young and old and especially the young generation need to understand that hatred and ignorance will not do us any good. We need to think of Pakistan first and always. Remember we cannot help anyone till we help ourselves.

Look at our neighbors and learn a lesson. Please my fellow citizens do not hate me for this, like i said earlier i have no problem admitting our mistakes, My hats off to the people of India. It is the people of India who dusted themselves off and went on to make their country what it is right now.

All is not lost, we the people to Pakistan have to do it on our own. We have the best opportunity to dust our selves off as well and get to work and achieve thing that i am absolutely sure we are capable of and more.

Peace

Speculation, conspiracy theories and guess work. No real hard facts. Look, i appreciate your effort but i want to ask you one question. If blackwater is operational in Pakistan then who is to blame? The rulers of Pakistan exactly. But then who pinned hopes on these leaders? Who elected them? Who brought them in assemblies? Blackwater? NO. The people of this country. Now you would argue that they were deceived.But is it the first time that these leaders have come to the helm of affairs? They have been tried in the past. What you are doing is presenting the symptoms of the disease. How about actual cure of the disease and one step further prevention of the diease. Think about it!!!

Should have been written by NFP. This writer does not know what she is talking about.

Black water has a bad reputation.

They have done very bad things in Iraq.

Therefore it is not okay to let them run the operation of drones.

American knows it is not in their long term interest to kill civlians with drones.

Americans have no choice but to cooperate with Pakistan army and run the drones using Pakistani military.

They know it, It is in their interest that they don’t get the blame in case of collateral damage.

The long term solution to the war on terror is to strike a deal with loya jirga, with necessary give and take.

Fighting milita is rarely succesful.

Pakistan military failed to defeat mukhti bahni, who were weaponized & trained by the Indian army.

Russians could not defeat mjuahideen, who were weaponized & trained by CIA & ISI.

Americans are not able to defeat al qaeda or taliban in Afganistan.

Americans were not able to defeat Vietnamese & finally retreated.

Americans shook hands with sunnis in Iraq to calm down the situaion, otherwise they were not able to deal with mines, IDP’s & suicide bombings.

Pakistan claims to have subsided the terrorists in Swat, still we hear about bombings, every now & then.

It seems to be not a good idea to fight militia. It is better to deal with it through diplomacy.

This is a summary of what’s being told by Pro Taliban journalists and writers regarding Black Water, other US agencies and US embassy.

1. People have seen number of foreign nationals roaming all over Pakistan, in SUVs and Humvees, also foreign nationals are armed from head to toe with latest weapons…….
Yet no photo or video of foreign nationals have emerged on national media. Isn’t it strange when these days, everyone carries a camera phone?. Perhaps foreign nationals are invisible ghosts, people do try to capture their images, but technology is not yet so advance to capture the images of Black Water ghosts.)

2. US Embassy is being constructed like a Fort……
How dare Americans should construct it like a fort, instead they should move their embassy to a very public place, with no walls and no security, maximizing life and collateral damage in any terrorist attack. We don’t like when in terrorist attack no American is killed.

3. Americans have rented 200 homes in Islamabad……
This is very bad too, they should not spend like a drunken sailor, instead they should rent only a dozen houses, and in each house minimum fifty staff members must reside, just like us. Do in Islamabad, as Islamabadians do.

4. Why the strength of US Embassy Staff members is in thousands?
According to Americans, Pakistan is one of largest recipient of American aid, therefore they need a large staff to look after all the progress and utilization of financial help….
This is another lie, instead Americans should send us only Bank Draft, as we have excellent track record of previous help,.. So what, if our ex-President has disclosed misappropriation of funds. Americans should trust us, otherwise we will not stop hating them.

Pakistani can not have it both ways. Either, they should be standing on their own feet or take it what comes. America will get away with whatever it wants to achieve it’s ends:drones, Blackwater!!.

What surprises me is that Pakistanis want to blame everyone else for their problems, but are not willing to improve their lot by education, small and big business development to increse the wealth of their nation. All the money being wasted on excessive militarism to fight a so called ‘enemy’ in India, when the real enemy lives within their own borders, the Talibans, terrorists, who are destabilising the country and not allowing the economic development and education in the country which is the basic ingredient for development. How long will they go on begging from every country under the sun but not helping themselves?

Whole country is already mortgaged to foreign powers .Addition of Blackwater won’t cause a ripple. Drones are killing innocents along with guilty & there is nothing you can do about it.

@ rkg

I’d raise points of dissent here.

1) The author is particularly talking on the subject of ‘Blackwater’ as I got the impression. Moreover, the Blackwater issue hasn’t been taken seriously by the media and if someone is op-eding on it, he should be taken into consideration. Yet, everyone knows about the presence of outsiders in Pakistan and they keep on writing about it perennially.

2) Generally, had the Blackwater been from some Muslim Country, people would have shouted more and the reason is the alike-religion connection. To simplify it more, anyone who cares for the sovereignty of his country wouldn’t allow outlanders to come and dispatch, abduct or trade its people, let alone alike-religion connection.

3) People are not satisfied with the services of US for various reasons. Anywhere in the world where the rule of law is superior, you’d not find a government trading its own people for dollars — rendering innocents to US, allowing drone attacks which kill innocents. There was an item on The News a couple of months back stating the loss of innocent lives which was more than the miscreants demise. Have a look:

- http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=21440

Compare the loss of innocent lives i.e. 687 with the number of miscreants demises i.e. 14 — just 14. How productive are these drone attacks — this ratio is a thunderbolt for all those who endorse it. The dignity of Pakistan is really on sale.

3) There’s nothing wrong in getting help from US, but the other side of picture is different. You get help from US of A and in return you provide your full-capacity of services to US of A that includes the permission to meddle in Pakistan’s every single affair. It’s a grave matter for those who love their dignity and their nation’s sovereignty.

//after all it is for good cause//

The good causes are always apparent to appreciate. The tragedy with the people of this nation — also and always remained associated with the history since independence — is that it makes a boo-boo and to hide or rectify it, it takes support of another of its kind and execute it in a hope that it’ll make things alright this time. But no, it does never happen — instead there’s a deadlock once again.

I hope my post gets published and Pakistani readers reply to me at subhashisn@hotmail.com. United States is an all-weather friend of Pakistan. It supplies it with quality weaponry and also gives it vast amounts of economic aid. It gives visas, refugee status and asylum to millions of Pakistanis. India DOES NOT get any such favours. Also, India is not lucky enough to attract billion dollar US investments. However, the US is infusing a big boost to Pakistan by building a billion dollar embassy. I anticipate that most of the raw materials used in construction will be bought in Pakistan. Millions of Pakistanis will get jobs. Yet, Pakistanis are up against US for building an embassy, which needless to say will increase co-operation between US and Pakistan. Will Pakistanis be happy if the embassy gets moved to India from Pakistan? Indians will welcome the new investment and US guests. Why are you criticising Blackwater? Why are you against the fabulous new embassy which many predict will become a landmark construction in Pakistan? It is a rare opportunity to forge closer bonds with US. Why kick the hand that wants to forge a bond of friendship? The world has moved away from conflict to co-operation. Obama is undoing the wrong steps of Bush. Pakistanis must support their all-weather friend and ensure better life for themselves. By the way, please reply and let me know what is bad about a billion dollar embassy. And Editor, please do not remove my post. I am not anti-Pakistan, I am curious about people of your country.

The article is good, its provoking..but what can we do after reading this? Except feeling fear, blaming America, blaming ourselves. We read such articles and forget them soon. Why don’t the people do more practical things. We can’t we stop America from doing what we have read in this article.. It’s time to do something.. We have suffered a lot. God helps those who help themselves. We are ready to rant and just talk.. We don’t do anything else.. Surely we, ourselves are losing power.

Pakistan is a wonderful country if we change ourselves we could rule.

Well done ,you have got a bull’s eye for people having wrong notions about the black water or xyz agency.The possibility of extending American embassy or having black water is of less concern than of drones.

Americans have said it loud and clear that “If we want to have then we can have and we don’t need any green signals” What I mean to say is that our govt is not so strong to stop foreign involvement in our homeland. Those people who are more concerned about blackwater. I want to ask them as for how many times in recent past US amry asked Pakistani army that they are conducting an air strike. And how can we forget our own mr advisor saying “the drone that killed baituallah was flown form pakistani territory and it was a joint operation”

Writer seems to be so naive . Pakistani rulers having been lying to its people before and after its inception. The proof of misleading the people: Bangla Desh, wars of 1965, 1971, and Kargil Adventure. Who believes, Pakistani state actions and deeds, may be poor, naive, die-hard patriot and people who read Urdu press. Pakistan has ideological and physical insecurity issues and establishment try to hide in Pan Islamism, Palestine, Kashmire and Bosnia. Pakistani establishment expects foreign America and West to provide money for its army but and spend most revenues on army than on its people in education, poverty, health care etc.

It is relevant issue, the research however appropriate should not force us to think that we perhaps have a choice. The huge AID is not coming without any STRICT conditions. US interests in the region have grown over the last decade and it is visible in almost all cities of Pakistan. My question is: As people of Pakistan “Overly concerned on US presence in Pakistan” How many of us have refused to lend our houses or services to Americans? Every single one out of us has a price tag hanging in our neck and we talk of patriotism and national integrity. It is a matter of shame for us and at the same time a point to ponder!

Very will written ..

”living in a state of denial and mistrust will destabilise Pakistan to a far greater extent than US intervention.”

So true. This is all being propagated by rightist parties like JI !

We as a Pakistanis should focus more on our basic problems. People are being killed in queues of cheap sugar and wheat. What a shame. We have the power crises. we have so many problems but the JI making scenes more worst and doing hue and cry for useless things which is a no issue for the Pakistan.

Insightful article. It’s been indeed too long a list of things government’s been denying and it was about time it cleared the fog of mistrust lingering at both ends.

It’s startling, though, how some people want to blame everything on conspiracy theories and unless they catch a video or photographic proof, they would go on to deny it. It’s quite an inverse version of people blaming everything at ‘Amreeka’.

The thing is that we need to look into the matter and rather then adopting the ridiculous stand of dismissing it as a conspiracy theory, which’s a convenient way of pretending safe, make sure that the Blackwater phenomenon is not happening in Pakistan for it’d be a direct threat to Pakistan’s sovereignty.

Hello Sana,

Instead of penning the thoughts in your mind and set apprehensions in the citizens, why don’t you get an interview of Zardari or Gilani or Kayani and ask your questions. You can happily relay the same to the public.

When you sell your soul to the devil, do not complain what the devil does. Keep quiet and face the music. Pakistan and USA

Let’s separate the wheat from the chaff. I for one is not blaming America. I live here and love this country just as much as I love Pakistan. The problem is Blackwater/XE. There are groups of people and entities in the political and bureaucratic environment of Washington that have extreme right wing, ideological, world domination beliefs with some having ultra religious inclinations of crusades against infidels. They believe in imposing their narrow political, social and religious beliefs all over the world including the US. Opposition to them is very much present in the US, not just in Pakistan.

Opposing right wing ideologues with overt religiousity whether in the US or in Pakistan is not being anti either country. To the contrary. We need to get rid of right wing, religion, violence-oriented groups and organizations from all countries to achieve true progress for mankind.

I advocate greater cooperation between Pakistan and the US, along with other Western nations. However, that does not mean that Pakistan must turn into a battlefield every few years between, Muslim, Christian, Jewish and Hindu religious ideologues.

Blackwater/XE is an armed wing of religious zealots under the guise of a security firm. It has taken billions of US taxpayers money to commit crimes all over the world, especially in Iraq.

Blackwater/XE is a problem for both Pakistan and the US. We need to run this criminal organization out of business from both countries.

“Whether Blackwater is established in Pakistan remains a mystery.”

At the end of the day this article establishes stating the obvious. Too much commentary, and too little fact finding will be the death of investigative journalism..

If you’re that concerned about Blackwater/Xe in Pakistan then why don’t you do some actual investigative work and pull out a scoop that busts them and embarrasses the Pakistani govt. at the same time.

This kind of writing will only re-enforce the aforementioned paranoia that’s been buzzing like a beehive off-late.. And its not like the ISI, the government’s own mercenary intelligence force, is any more reliable than these so-called “christian crusaders”.

Pakistan should be looking inwards rather than rooting its paranoia in conspiracy theories which place it at the center of the world…

Another propaganda article by the hardcore right wing community.

The beauty of the democracy is you can express your view. Remember in the mullah raj your way of life is going to be un-Islamic.

Anyway nothing constructive can be expected from such community.

Not worth commenting.

rkg says:
Pakistan, Afganistan etc are getting so much of financial aid from US that if spent properly on the issues for which the aid has been given, a number of issues can be resolved. BUT INSTEAD OF BEING THANKFUL, WE BLAME U S. THE BLAME GAME HAS TO BE PLAYED.
……………………………………..

Nothing comes free from the US. It is America who is playing games in different countries to maintain its super power image. You talk of Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, North Korea, Pakistan or the latest on target being Iran. If you indulge in image making then you have to bear the cost. When it comes to forming a rule America is the champion and when it comes to breaking the rules again America is in the fore front, example by passing all legal hurdles and providing uninterrupted nuclear supplies to India in the name of civilian nuclear co-operations. What is this, while you discourage some countries of their legitimate rights to acquire nuclear technology for civilian use, you grant conveyor access to others. You talk of Iran’s intention of acquiring weapons of mass destruction you keep your eyes closed on Israeli arsenals of the same caliber. If you see the record, no other country has used veto as much as America. I think the American administration has to do some re-thinking about its biased stance. Every country would like to respect America’s big brother attitude provided it proves through unbiased actions that justice, respect & co-operation is for all and not for the selected ones only. Long live America peacefully provided it affords similar opportunity to others to live in peace.

I think the Pakistanis should start confronting the alleged US troops and Black Water agents in Pakistan. The government will never acknowledge any wrong doing on the part of the US until it is too late. I remember someone told me that the Iraqi information minister kept on saying on TV that there was no US invasion in Iraq. However in the same TV footage US forces were seen behind him. Let this not be the case with Pakistan.

The construction of large US embassies and consulates is not with out purpose. It is simply a gradual invasion of Pakistan. May Allah not make this happen but I think a time may come when suspect Pakistanis will be picked up by US marines and interrogated and imprisoned in these embassies. And Pakistani cities may be turned into large prison cities.

I am quite surprised by this article. the author doesnt seem to be worried about so many other foreigners inside Pakistan, who are fighting against Pakistan, but is more worried about Govt’s taking help from US force which is fighting for your cause. I would like to ask one thing, if Blackwater was from some middle east muslim country, would the author have similar doubts/objections. With such articles media plants the seeds of doubts in minds of the public. Now people who were not thinking on these lines will also start thinking on similar lines.

This is a fact that we Asians always have a scape goat to blame. Anything happening in India has a pakistani hand(before even starting of investigation) similarly anything happening in pakistan must have a hidden Indian hand.

Pakistan, Afganistan etc are getting so much of financial aid from US that if spent properly on the issues for which the aid has been given, a number of issues can be resolved. BUT INSTEAD OF BEING THANKFUL, WE BLAME U S. THE BLAME GAME HAS TO BE PLAYED.

When pakistan Govt is taking help of US financially and accepting it, there is nothing wrong in accepting military help(if Govt is getting it), after all it is for good cause.

Pakistanis are always living in denial. The latest is the way Pakistan is touting its closeness to China. No country in south east asia professes the same closeness with China. Malaysia/Indonesia/Taiwan/Philippines/Thailand/Korea/Japan all do business with China, but have no special closeness to them . everyones wary of China.

Pakistan is on the other hand prostrating to China, with Asif Zardari making a trip there every odd month. Also handing over ports/territory to China, and farm lands to Saudi. No country except a few in Africa allow this to happen.

Pakistan needs to wake up. No country befriends another except for their strategic needs. Its not out of deep emotional love or bonds. Pakistan must accept the US supremacy, as they are the only country more fair than others. They give and take, but give more and when required.

Blackwater, Black Sheep, or Christian al-Qaida, mercenaries, What is going on in Pakistan ?Is it a country without master, a free mansion, having no sovereignty, a free port, free entry where only Pakistanis are required entry visa, and ID.!-? And not these blacwaters, who are wandering in the capital ,and other cities, with heavy arms, without license, openly pointing guns, threatening, peoples, and police officers.

This is burning issue and has been under discussion on print, electronic, media, including various TV channels, since many days, but no responsible minster, interior ministry neither, Zardari, or Gilani, has taken trouble to come before public and explain the facts behind this notorious ghost of blackwaters.

It is not Angels who are walking in the capital and other cities, but a flock of black sheep, who have played a major roll in mass killings of innocent kids, men and women in Iraq, and Afghanistan, and now for what purpose they are well come in Pakistan-? Where is Altaf of MQM, who had been crying that “TALIBANS ARE COMING IN KARACHI” why he does not cry now against these gangsters?

Is it part of a triple deal between Zardari, Musharraf and his guarantors?

mehtab
Great article.
A lot of small incidents that are seemingly related to US presence in Pakistan also make the whole Blackwater issue more mysterious. For example:
1. US Embassy building a fort-like structure in main Islamabad.
2. US Embassy obtaining houses, lots of them.
3. Questionable attitude of local security firms linked to US Embassy such as Inter-risk.
However, despite all this, we can only speculate until our so called leaders come out clean with it.

I will agree with Mr.Rahul from India. He commented that we Pakistani’s should mind our business and concentate on Pakistan rather looking around the world to help others. I am not saying that we shouldn’t help but frankly speaking we were never ever in the position to help others. We should realise this fact. Corrupt politicians n officers are all over the world, take the example of India. But India is still more stable than Pakistan. I would also agree with Irfan Butt that we are naive in blaming others for our short comings…Pakistani’s are the biggest enemies of Pakistan. We as a nation has to change our attitudes. We are befooling ourselves, no one is fooling us. The sooner we realise this the better.
We should also remeber that in crisis the Americans helped us. In the Earthquake that hit Pakistan in 2005, Americans helped big time. Without their help alot of lives would have been lost. The point is that the west or the Americans are not responsible for our miseries, we are solely responsible for that and we should accept it.
thnx

As conspiracy theories go this makes for good reading. Another conspiracy theory that surfaced I remember many a score years ago was when a senior Pakistani politician stated that Pakistan was very much on the crossroads. According to him Pakistan will eventually split in two, with Baluchistan, NWFP and the northern areas going back to Afghanistan and Sind,Punjab and Kashmir joining Eastern Punjab and India to form a greater Hind. Maybe all this brawl and dust up between the Pashtoon Taliban and the Punjabi army thats happening in Pakistan today is eventually leading towards the split up of Pakistan as earlier predicted.

Government of Pakistan should come out clear about the Blackwater affairs. There is lot of news circulating about this armed outfit in the media. The people of Pakistan deserve to know what is going on in the name of war against terror. At a time when Pakistan Army has almost subdued the Talibans why the need for this outfit was felt. What is the in between lines writing about the increasing physical presence of the Americans in Pakistan. The government should clearly understand that the people and the great armed forces of Pakistan will never allow a replica of the East Indian Company in Pakistan.

AH

A nice and well balanced article. Hope to see more like these.

so far since pakistan most westerner are like blackwater in different manifestations. quite simple, what did pakistan benefit in long term/ and if there was a benefit the ones using pak soil were quick to create political/mental/militarical and religious discourses, and yes due tolack of balanced wisdom our leaders and their Rich supporters doomed pakistan. no guts no glory

whatever

There is a reason why certain leaders are there in power in our country. Otherwise, which morally sound person would allow such foreign elements to function in our country?
Unfortunately, the western world knows how to buy our leaders out and it has been done across political parties and civilian/military governments for the past 5 decades atleast.
Asking our leaders to ‘come clean’ on these issues is like asking them to resign their power. It will never happen!

Pakistan paid a huge price to bring victory to americans in their cold war against the USSR.

Pakistan got several millions mujahideen refugees & their families into its border,which was a huge burden on Pakistan, and the US did not help Paksitan to take care of them.

Intead The US turned their back on Paksitan after their win, and gave all the benefit to the eastern europe.

President Reagan got the entire credit.

The millions of mujahideen who gave their lives in defeating Soviet Union were dismissed.

So if American is paying back Pakistan to restore normalcy, it is because of their own doing. It is not exactly charity. FYI

I agree with the author.

Pakistan goverment shouldnot allow drones, because it kills civilians, and that builds hate, and breeds more terrorism.

I think instead of worrying about musharraf, the opposition should call the nation to a long march to force the government to not allow further drone attacks by the US.

Killing of civlians sustains terrorism & create more terrorists or their sympathisers.

It is as shame that america is using the notorious black water instead of Pakistan army to load & fire drones to kill al qaeda.

I think Pakistan army will be able to avoid civlian casualties if they do it.

It is also not helping american interest because when a drone ends up killing innocent civlians, more people hate americans.

If America wants to win hearts and minds of people of Pakistan, then it should let pakistan army handle drone deployment & execution, by not getting the blame.

I have no idea, what Black Water is, but I do know that In Pakistan, Democracy, Media Independence, Economic activites and somewhat rule of law is because of USA and other Western Powers.

Islam is the only thing common among Pakistanis. Pakistan came into being because Muslims wanted to live together as one nation under God. People are ingonrant about Islam and sharia. Sharia gives rights to women, and it is gernally understood, sharia takes away rights. It is due to the ignorance and the ignorant practices observed in Afghanistan during taliban rule. Islam literally means peace through surrender to Allah’s will stated in the Quran and walked by the prophet in his 23 years as the last messenger of Allah. If muslims truely believe in Islam,nobody will be believed, there will no poverty due to the adminstration & institution of zakat. IF the leaders & military leaders are corrupt, it reflects on the whole nation, because the leaders come from the poeple

This is only a propaganda hatched by JI and other pro Taliban media. Its unfortunate that majority of Pakistanis believe such nonsense. If Black Water is here, then name any crime which they have committed so far. Renting houses and fortifying embassy is an other non sense. There are thousands of US embassy employees, most of them are Pakistani Citizens living in Islamabad, and they are very well paid off, Should they live in camps? or in Gujar Khan.

Remember those days, when US was enjoying many times more privileges in Zia era. Nobody objected at that time, as pro Taliban (Mujahideen) and USA were sleeping in same bed.

shujat ali Says:
September 22nd, 2009 at 17:10
this blog by Sana Saleem is pretty far fetched and only seems to be painting a picture which is devoid of any hard facts whatsoever.If She so believes that they are in Pakistan then she should provide us with some REAL FACTS.It is true that USA is outsourcing Security matters to private contractors which have lead to trouble in various parts of the world,but at the same time she should not try and paint a picture which makes it look like that they have penetrated our country….i can get the same information which has been published by sifting through WIKIPEDIA,if the author is really a defence Analyst then some FACTS should be presented

@Shujat Ali:

If you want facts i would request you to go to the houses rented in Islamabad and ask what are they doing there?? As i mentioned early they have been caught with weapons? I would say stop being ignorant!

Excellent Article. Congratulations to the author for her great work. What amazes me is that Pakistani Army and ISI is so quiet. Yeah all political parties are spineless, media only reports what suits them and when.

But Army always controls Pakistan either directly or indirectly. So are they sleeping? Why are they ensuring such creepy organizations establish their presence?

The Pakistan army and intelligence services are fully capable of taking care of the security concerns of the country.The Swat operation is proof of the capability of the Pak army, they have been more successful then NATO on the other side of the border.If the Americans have any concerns they should take it up with the government and sort the problem out. Allowing Blackwater to operate in Pakistan is the weakness of the government. They should be asked to leave forthwith.

Government “coming clean” with the public? The historical precedents, I think, are precious few, and mostly just excuse-making after an undeniable leak. Bread and circus, folks. Bread and circus. (OK — sometimes not so much bread.)

Great post Sana!

Every nation gets the leader it deserves. From Mohammed Ali Jinnah to Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan has come a long way (not necessarily in the right direction!). We as a nation are extremely disorganized and disunited. USA is a powerful and united country. A truely ‘honest’ and fearless leader would have resisted US moves and he would be labelled a crazy ‘terrorist’ by the ‘Civilized nations’. A sensible leader would weigh the risks to the country and choose which US moves to resist and which ones to allow. Then he risks being overthrown. A spineless corrupt leader would “sell off” the nation to the highest bidder and be praised by the ‘Civilized nations’ as a ‘brave’ and ‘peace loving moderate leader’. It is gut wrenching to see how we, as a nation have brought our selves to this helpless situation.

Sana,
You have pointed out a very frightening reality. Due to the recent stories in many prominent publications about the foreigner’s absurd behavior in Islamabad has left little doubt that if not black water than some other private mercenary force is indeed working in Pakistan. The horrible stories which surfaced about the tactics of Black Water in Iraq is enough to enrage any Pakistani citizen. Complaining to the authorities would be a useless exercise because so far this government has proved to be far more clueless and careless to understand and navigate Pakistan’s foreign policy in favor of Pakistan. What can you expect from the people who have lived most of their lives out side of the country and who still spend most of their time on foreign tours. It is very important for newspapers and media to keep reporting these and other related stories as to keep some form of pressure on the government. I also urge more and more people to keep commenting on these stories. It is very important to keep involve. We should not forget the power of the people which brought a military ruler to its knees.

Nonsense. This is land of conspiracy theories and there are several facotories in Islamabad which churn-out such theories day and night (100 Rs per theory).
C’mon guys do u really believe stealing our nuclear weapon is gully-danda? CIA ws nt able to catch osama in 8 years and you think they will manage to disrupt pakistan.
Problem is in our compulsive-critisim-disorder. whoever is in power we will critize them and praise army who is by the way distroyer of pakistan at first place.
You can see what is happening now a days, old-time spooks are telling hw they manage to manipulate awam.
Whatever we read and heard is not always true. Use common sense and rational.
Govt is also at fault but lets not spread rumours and stay focus on real agenda to build pakistan…
If US is building fort like embassy then I see oppertunity for our brothers who will work there in construction and will be employed there.
Every pakistani critize US and I can bet anything they will be first to goto US if given chance.
A

Dear Sana,

I appreciate for your time and effort you put into reading the articles in the Western newspapers and quoting some passages from the books written by western authors and then it appears in Pakistani English newspapers. But the fact is that this only reaches to a mere 3 to 5 % of the Pakistanis (which is called silent majority). What about the 25 % of the people in Pakistan who can only read Urdu. If you can reach to those 25 % of Urdu readers, I am sure it will make a difference in changing the attitude of the government and their denial theory will not be accepted.

But at the same time I would like to ask you to give some facts and figures of your own to authenticate your writings.

Regards

Dont think or write against america. If all of you are given a chance to board a plane thereto, you will be the first to be discerned in the front line desirous to stay there as are doing our so-called politicians and relegious scholors.so dont be hypocratic.

Since many commentators of this article are talking about corruption i can present the readers with the following quotation:- “The mechanism that directs government cannot be virtuous, because it is impossible to thwart every crime, to protect oneself from every criminal without being criminal too; that which directs corrupt mankind must be corrupt itself; and it will never be by means of virtue, virtue being inert and passive, that you will maintain control over vice, which is ever active: the governor must be more energetic than the governed.”

pradeep Says:
Pakistan is becoming a mystery day by day. No one knows who is lying and who is telling the truth. people from A. khan to Musharaf army generals all are telling different stories. its pity that a country who claims to be a nuclear power is begging arround the world for money and aid.
……………………………………..

I do agree with the last part of you write-up. It is a shame that our leaders are so shot sighted that they don’t understand the real fallout of their urge to provide temporary relieve. The government should fasten their seatbelts and prepare the entire nation to do so in order to navigate clear from the stormy water with their own means and efforts. The other day I read news about the prime Minister of Maldives Island saying that he can only attend any international conference if it is at tall necessary because his country cannot for the present afford international outing (picnic) by its leaders. WOW!

Dear Sirs, take a lesson and save yourselves and Pakistan from the piercing remakes by the peoples around.

AH

If the US is renting posh houses for their personnel, the huge rents being paid to landlords contributes to the wealth and GDP of pakistan. some Pakistanis must surely wellcome the arrival of such US marines/security people.
In anycase, since USA is the bggest donor to Pakistan, they must be given something in return. Nothing comes for free. Thats the ultimate ruthless truth of the global capitalistic world.

Dear Sana Saleem,

Excellent article on a very important issue. Frankly speaking I don’t find any difference between George Bush’s threat to turn Pakistan into Stone Age if it did not say yes to each and every action of America and the friendly shootout by repeated drone attacks by the current American administration. The American government should clearly understand that with the news of each drone attack on Pakistani soil it is erasing bit by bit the soft corner that may be present in the heart of Pakistanis for the American administration. The government and the people of Pakistan may not be in a position to speak aloud their dismay about the drone attacks, however, it should be understood clearly that anti American sentiments are running high for their this particular adventure.
99% of the Pakistanis are against any kind of terrorism leading to death and destruction anywhere in the world. The international communities should clearly understand that Pakistan along with its entire population and might will stand against any adventure (mis-adventure) on its soil. Our temporary silence should not be mistaken for our weakness. If America thinks that drone attack is yielding a positive result then it should pass on the drone technology to Pakistan and let the Pakistani military operate it. The action of Blackwater or any other outfit with any other name stands no chance to earn sympathies for their direct onslaught on Pakistani soil.
AH

this blog by Sana Saleem is pretty far fetched and only seems to be painting a picture which is devoid of any hard facts whatsoever.If She so believes that they are in Pakistan then she should provide us with some REAL FACTS.It is true that USA is outsourcing Security matters to private contractors which have lead to trouble in various parts of the world,but at the same time she should not try and paint a picture which makes it look like that they have penetrated our country….i can get the same information which has been published by sifting through WIKIPEDIA,if the author is really a defence Analyst then some FACTS should be presented

no conspiracy against our Pakistan could work as long as Pakistani military is there —Thats provide me with sum relaxtion–Geo PAKISTAN

pakistan is becoming a mystery day by day. no one knows who is lying and who is telling the truth. people from A.khan to Musharaf army generals all are telling different stories. its pity that a country who claims to be a nuclear power is begging arround the world for money and aid.

Last time the colonialism started when Jahangir gave the approval to british in 1601 to open a port and fort in Bengal for trade, and Vasco – da – gama was treated as a guest rather than a suspect when he landed in calicut in 1492.

It seems historty repeats it self . . .This time it started from Afghanistan, than NWFP, Punjab Sindh . . . and rest only God Knows!!

No conspiracy against our beloved country would ever work if we adhere to the fundamentals i.e. Ideology of Pakistan, Iqbal’s dream reflected in his poetry and Quaid’s guidance reflected in his speeches. The nation must also guard against the recent trends of taking out the above fundamentals from school curriculums.

Atlast an article about Black Water appearing in Dawn!

By the way, Black Water is not a conspiracy theory. It’s a reality.

One thing is baffling the minds of most of the Pakistani’s that even half of the rumors of arrival of US Marines, mysterious activities of Xe, expansion of US embassy & hiring of alarmingly high numbers of houses in Islamabad are true and the Government is doing nothing than what are the security apparatus of the country are doing on this security threat to Pakistan? Is it not a million dollar question because in the past on minor issues BB & NS were declared security risk by these people.

Well this article is very unrooting and Scaring, inthe history of Pakistan we were always facing many problems from the india Israel and even our friend countries. But the real concern is that pakistani politicians are corrupt, and are even ready to commrise the security if the homeland. I salut the work of the isi which allways warns and prevents the united state’s mercenary activities pakistan.

Who was behind the Marriott blast hod knows but the real thing is that Marriott was an operation base for CIA. So I think Pakistani forces should act in the way that anyone cmploting in the country must be stop by legal or force way. If blackwater is in Pakistan so Pakistani forces are better prepared to counter them if they are busy to destablise our country.

Appalling but pretty much believable. Obama’s baseless rhetoric to expand operation in Pakistan and our govt.’s equally pliant ‘protests’ speak for themselves.Back in 1999 I remember a friend telling us that US planned to capture Iraq,Afghanistan n Pakistan by the first decade of 21st century..yet another ”conpiracy theory” that is undeniably coming true.Good Luck Pakistan!

Sana, it is an excellent presentation. Proud of you.

We must not be pessimist like one who undermine rather than stand to confront the odds. These are passive people and in their only prey on others’ positive contributions.

Xe or else this country is here to stay.Insha’Allah.

The government is in denial, the mass media (which plays an important role of being eyes and ears of the masses) calls it ‘Conspiracy theories.’
How would you explain large number of houses being rented in Islamabad, then garrisoned like a forts. Humvees being imported into Pakistan not to go via transit route to Afghanistan but destined to Islamabad. Government officials coming on National television and admitting that American nationals are coming in to the country and the interior ministry has no record of them. American nationals roaming on the streets of Islamabad, armed with automatic rifles when a Pakistani citizen is not allowed to carry arms under an act. Not on only carrying but threatening our police force when caught. Some of whom when taken to police station get free within hours.
They say they gave us aid, out of which they use $1 billion to construct their super size embassy, God know what they want to store there?
Rumor has it that they are looking for warehouses outside Faisalabad and our constructing a base in Gharo, just a few kilometers from Karachi.
It is about time that the government starts acting and stop denying…….

Sad to see such naive comments blaming the west/jews/india for all our ills.

Pakistanis are the true enemy of Pakistan. If we can elect the same government thrice then we do not deserve anything better.

Stop blaming others for our failures.

I cannot agree less that the government has at all occasions failed to meet the expectations of the people of Pakistan. There is no way that we or anyone can trust them, as they have ridiculed us far too long. Off with them. The people need to rise… far too long have we stayed silent, and worrisome. How long will this continue? The sheer increase of US presence in Pakistan cannot and will not be tolerated. Off with them!

The problem in my opinion with Pakistan is that it cannot mind its own business.USA and a lot of other countries are also meddling but they can afford to do that and probably have a reason as well.

This whole concept of supporting there muslim bretherns across the world,when they are not able to put there house in order first. is the root cause of all the problems.
Corrupt politicians,officers etc are huge problems but then they exist everywhere though in varying proportions.

Instead of looking at all the ‘muslims’ across the world first you guys need to focus on Pakistanis.One example that comes to mind is Malaysia.Pakistan unlike Malaysia
have managed to be the epicenter of most of the overt or covert battles in the name of ISLAM.
I hope My friends in pakistan will read this
and take this as some kinda constructive feedback from an outsider.

Guys ‘Pakistan first’ should be your motto instead of ‘ISLAM first’.

And if you are not able to make a difference than I rest my case.

All the best and ID Mubarak.

Rahul Dev Thakur
Peace
India

It is really eye opening. I had an idea about what happened in Marriot Hotel. After reading your article, I am really concerned about my beloved company.

How the CIA (controlled by Zionism) is hatching conspiracy against Pakistan. We should unite and tell the world that Pakistan is not Afghanistan or Iraq.

Pakistan is a country full natural resources and skilled workers and at the same time very humble.

Few people for lust of money and power sell their dignity by helping mercenary like Blackwater.

Good work Sana. Living abroad is difficult to get true information about my beloved Pakistan. Corrupt politicians describe the events going on in the country.

I pray that people of Pakistan become strong enough so that real, honest and loyal politicians come to parliament to serve the country.

Hahahahaha… a country that thrives on nuclear blackmail, extortion, exporting terrorism and being at the forefront of Islamic expansion by playing stooge to the Sauds has the gall to paint Blackwater with the same brush.

black water is there to help israel india and states to start a civil war, recovery of nukes and no more pakistan simple and clear. the only thing can save pakistan is the people of pakistan.

Pakistan has the potential to be as good as Germany or even France, if left alone.
Foreign intervention has implanted corruption so deep that people have become helpless and powerless.
USA is not the enemy, our real enemy is corruption, we need a grand movement against corruption or probably set up an Anti-Corruption Intelligence Agency comprising of honest and under cover army officers.

Sana,
Great article.
A lot of small incidents that are seemingly related to US presence in Pakistan also make the whole Blackwater issue more mysterious. For example:
1. US Embassy building a fort-like structure in main Islamabad.
2. US Embassy obtaining houses, lots of them.
3. Questionable attitude of local security firms linked to US Embassy such as Inter-risk.
However, despite all this, we can only speculate until our so called leaders come out clean with it.