Thanks to Jeremy Scahill’s recent article in the US-based The Nation — which alleges that Blackwater is operating in Pakistan — the notorious and despised American security firm (now formally known as Xe Services) is back in the headlines.
Until now, Pakistani ire against Blackwater has mostly been ensconced in anti-America rhetoric.—File photo
Unfortunately, the impassioned conversation about Blackwater in Pakistan is sidestepping some of the major issues that such mercenary activity raises in the context of the war against terror.
The possibility that Blackwater is here — US officials have explicitly rejected Scahill’s claims — justifiably fuels anti-American sentiment.
Once again, public anger is directed against perceived infringements of Pakistani national sovereignty, though it is not always articulated as such.
Many Pakistanis believe any US military or government contract with such a security firm is a case of America being up to its old tricks, finding a way to have eyes and ears on the ground without having to acknowledge troop presence in Pakistan.
Blogs are buzzing about Blackwater’s alleged activities here, ranging from advance missions for US/Nato forces to plots to capture Dr A.Q. Khan.
Scahill’s report suggests that Blackwater operatives are working with the US Joint Special Operations Command on a secret programme to assassinate Taliban and Al Qaeda militants and conduct ‘snatch and grabs’ of other high-value targets.
Pakistanis are also enraged at the idea that Blackwater employees — who operate outside any legal framework — are running around their country, taking pot shots at anyone who seems suspicious, or is deemed problematic by the US.
Blackwater’s reputation for getting away with murder certainly doesn’t help the situation. News that the firm sent US$1m to its Iraq office to buy the silence of government officials outraged by the shootings of 17 civilians by Blackwater employees in Baghdad’s Nisoor Square in September 2007 preceded Scahill’s revelations by only a few days.
Until now, Pakistani ire against Blackwater has mostly been ensconced in anti-America rhetoric. But by exclusively framing the problem as such, we’re neglecting to consider one dimension of the mercenary business that could have profound implications on how Pakistan conducts its war against terrorism.
In Iraq, Afghanistan, and now, as per Scahill’s report, Pakistan, Blackwater is primarily associated with targeted assassinations of high-value militants.
Earlier this year, The New York Times reported that the CIA in 2004 hired Blackwater to locate and assassinate top Al Qaeda operatives.
The CIA deployed that secret programme (which has been suspended and did not successfully capture or kill any terrorists) as an alternative to drone attacks that often kill civilians and are unsuited to urban environments.
In other words, the CIA tasked Blackwater operatives, often described as ‘hired guns’, to extend its policy of extrajudicial killings of known and suspected terrorists.
The US’s reliance on the extrajudicial killing of terrorists as an effective strategy to control insurgencies in the long run requires more public debate.
In October, the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions asked the US to explain the legality of drone attacks and reminded the Obama administration that arbitrary and extrajudicial executions violate international humanitarian laws.
By the same logic, Blackwater operatives tasked with assassinating terrorist suspects are also in violation of international law. Indeed, US President Barack Obama has acknowledged the need for mercenaries to work within a legal framework and has called for greater accountability for the employees of private security firms.
Rather than conflate condemnations of Blackwater operations with a more general anti-Americanism, Pakistanis should specifically reject the practice of extrajudicial killings.
Such focused opposition to mercenary activity will also put pressure on the Pakistani government to wage a clean war against terrorism, one that can win this ideological battle rather than generate more sympathy for the militant cause.
Public condemnations of Blackwater in this context will also give fillip to investigations into unconfirmed reports of extrajudicial killings (whether by army officers or local lashkars, it remains to be investigated) in Malakand in the wake of Operation Rah-i-Rast.
Of course, demands for a cessation of extrajudicial killings serve doubly as calls for a more just and effective alternative.
The fact is, our government has yet to establish a clear legal and punitive infrastructure to ensure that terrorists are adequately dealt with.
Top militant leaders who have been apprehended by the authorities have yet to be charged or face trial. Pakistanis remain in the dark about the prosecution protocols and sentencing of terror suspects in anti-terrorism courts (ATCs).
Recently, several terror suspects have been acquitted by ATCs for lack of evidence. And the international community has already expressed reservations about the limitations placed on the prosecution in the trial of seven Lashkar-i-Taiba suspects in connection with last year’s Mumbai attacks, which kicked off some days ago in an ATC in Rawalpindi.
Lengthy jail terms will also serve as little consolation for a public — and international community — that wants to see convicted terrorists punished in a way that deters future recruitment.
It is well known that the members of banned Pakistani militant organisations continue operating from their jail cells. Recent revelations that Omar Saeed made hoax calls that stoked India-Pakistan tensions from a Hyderabad jail cell make jail sentences seem like ineffective responses to terrorism.
In the absence of a robust legal framework that can deal justly and proportionately with terrorists, extrajudicial killings will remain an attractive option for stakeholders in the war against terrorism.
In that event, Blackwater operatives, or the employees of other private security firms, working with the US and/or Pakistani militaries and intelligence agencies, will have cause to launch secret programmes in Pakistan.
And as long as that happens, Taliban spokesmen will continue to find a scapegoat for their heinous attacks, winning public sympathy while pinning their crimes on other ‘non-state actors’. [ Source: Dawn News ]
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