Islamabad, January 25: The Pakistani Interior Minister has once again ruled out the existence of Blackwater in Pakistan, saying there is no evidence showing its presence in the country.
“I state again with full responsibility and as per available record that there is no Blackwater in the country. It is a hype being created”, Rahman Malik told reporters in Islamabad, a Press TV correspondent reported late Saturday.
He also challenged those claiming the presence of the notorious American guards in the country to prove it through documents.
The remarks came a day after a heated debate in the Pakistani Parliament regarding the alleged presence of Blackwater in the country.
A former Jamat-e-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad and an ex-ISI official held Blackwater responsible for the recent terror attacks in the country.
Earlier on Friday, Pakistani lawmakers urged the government to come clean regarding the presence of the American security firm, renamed as ‘Xe Services LLC,’ in the country.
The lawmakers, both pro-government and opposition parties, during a heated debate on Friday, urged Islamabad to break its silence on the matter as there are strong evidences of the presence of the Xe Services LLC guards in Pakistan.
The call came after the US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates admitted that private security guards from Xe Services LLC and also DynCorp have been operating in Pakistan.
——-Agencies