'Blackwater' tries to teach 'lesson' to (Pakistan's) TheNation's staffer

[sabra]

Source: The Nation PK

ISLAMABAD - A photojo-urnalist of Nawa-i-Waqt remained into the custody of police for more than 45 minutes on the directives of high-ups of capital police only for taking snaps of a suspected rented house of Backwater Sunday night.

According to details, the police intercepted photographer Sajjad Haider at a picket near Super Market when he was driving his car PV55.

...

He further said that after half an hour, a duty officer of Aabpara Police Station reached the picket and told him that DIG Operations Bin Yamin had informed the police through wireless control that he had taken snaps of a house in G-6/3 which was in the use of Backwater. The duty officer further said that the DIG had ordered to arrest him and confiscate his vehicle. “But after some time, I contacted IGP Islamabad Syed Kalim Imam who after probing the matter ordered the police to set me free,” Sajjad said.

It is pertinent to mention here that Sajjad Haider had taken snaps of a suspected Backwater house in G-6/3 on Sunday night, which was published in TheNation on Monday along with a story titled “Backwater operatives night curfew”.

Aabpara Police Station confirmed that the police had received wireless message about the vehicle bearing number PV55 Sunday night but the vehicle was later handed over to Sajjad after getting directives from the police high-ups.

Read more: http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Politics/17-Nov-2009/Blackwater-tries-to-teach-lesson-to-TheNations-staffer

[hughee99]

1. Maybe I'm misunderstanding this...

We have a bunch of government paid mercenaries who have a place rented in Pakistan for who knows what. The photojournalist was seen taking pictures of this house, and was later picked up by the police.

Someone probably called it in after seeing Haider take the pictures, though I don't know how such a person would know why he was taking them or who he was.
I can understand why the local police would not like to have to deal with Blackwater operatives getting killed in their area.
I can understand why there may be people in the area who might want to hurt Blackwater operatives.

I can't imagine why someone would think that THIS is how Blackwater "teaches people a lesson". If Blackwater taught "lessons" by calling the authorities at the appropriate time, I don't think so many people would have an issue with them.

It sounds to me more like someone at the Nation is trying to get more exposure for their Monday story about Blackwater.

[EFerrari]

2. Blackwater has no business whatsoever demanding the illegal detention

of journalists.

[hughee99]

3. I missed the part where Blackwater demanded the detentions

Where in the article is that?

[EFerrari]

6. You know, you may be right. It's just a big coinidence

that this journalist was detained.

[hughee99]

7. Could it possibly be that the local police force

doesn't want people hassling Blackwater because it's going to cause trouble for the locals?

Could it be that when an unknown person is found taking pictures of the place, they might want to find out why?

They mentioned 3 or 4 times in this article that the guy was taking pictures of the apartment building for another story, but, despite the title, never even ALLEGED that Blackwater was responsible for the detainment. It sounds like they want to create the impression that Blackwater was behind their photographer spending a few hours in local police custody, without have to come out and actually say it. Since the guy was rather quickly released and all his stuff was returned it's not really that much of a story in and of itself (lacking any evidence that Blackwater "ordered" anything), unless you're trying to get some publicity for the related story.

[EFerrari]

10. Right. I'm sure no money changed hands and that the local police

was just acting out of their great concern for their citizens.

[hughee99]

12. Ah, so basically

There are many reasons that this man could have been detained, but for the sake of ideology, lets just go ahead and assume the one that most fits our template is true. Let's not get bogged down with any evidence found (or not found) or allegations that may have been made (or not made).

The police may not give a shit about the local citizens, but I guarantee you this, they care about their jobs. If shit starts blowing up on their watch, if companies with close ties to the US government start losing employees, they'll be out of those jobs very quickly.

[EFerrari]

13. Using your past experience to read a situation has nothing to do with ideology

but nice try.

And I'm sure the police do care about their jobs.

[hughee99]

17. And yet another bout of innuendo for which you produce no evidence.

Consistency is only a virtue up to a point.

I was reading a post recently in which someone said this. It seems appropriate here.

[EFerrari]

20. Innuendo? What part of bringing your experience to bear

and the belief that those Pakistani police do care about their jobs is unclear to you?

[hughee99]

21. "Blackwater has no business whatsoever demanding the illegal detention of journalists"

Any evidence that Blackwater (or Backwater) demanded anything? Under normal circumstances, even in the US, if police found someone taking pictures of a potential terrorist target (like an abortion doctor's house, for example) would it be unusual to detain them, at least to check out their story?

You're declaring they had no right to demand an illegal detention, when there's at least some reason for the man to be detained in the first place (though perhaps not held for as long as he was) and NO evidence that Blackwater "DEMANDED" anything. You are making up facts that aren't even being alleged by anyone, and then getting upset about them.

[EFerrari]

22. There is no innuendo in that statement either.

And are you now claiming that it's legal and also acceptable in this country for journalists to be detained for doing their job? :wtf:

Blackwater is in Pakistan. They are allegedly working with the Pakistani authorities against the Taliban. Whatever you think of this incident -- which ended pretty well, thank goodness -- look for more of them because Blackwater behaves with impunity.

[hughee99]

23. I'm sorry,

it is not uncommon for police to be called when someone is found taking pictures of private property. Just ask anyone who does housing appraisals. Depending on the neighborhood, it can be quite common. Normally, the police will, if anything, just stop by and ask a few questions and it will all be cleared up quickly. If the house happens to belong to an abortion doctor (or someone else who might be a potential target), they might take a little more interest. I'm not exactly sure how the journalistic credentialing system works in Pakistan, but if a person is seen taking pictures of a place that might be considered a target for violence, you might expect that they'd spend more than 2 seconds looking at an ID card. They might also be reluctant to be the one who gives the final OK to let the person go. If they fuck up, it's on them. If they can get a superior to be the person to order the release, they can cover their own ass, at least.

Innuendo: an oblique allusion: HINT, INSINUATION

You got me there, though. Perhaps innuendo isn't exactly the work I want to use. Your speculating that this happened. You don't know that Blackwater made any calls. You don't know that they demanded anything, and there are several possibilities as to why this person was detained that don't involve Blackwater demanding anything. Sorry, I was reading another thread and someone was upset about something specific, but were merely speculating that it was even true, as there didn't seem sufficient evidence to support the claim. A wise poster responded with the same response I gave to you, as I felt this was a similar situation.

[EFerrari]

25. Let's have a good finish to our conversation.

You are right in saying, I have no factual basis to claim Blackwater sent the electronic message that wound up in the arrest of this journalist. You are 100% right about that. The Nation can use any title it wants but the title itself isn't a fact. Agreed.

From what we have seen of Blackwater and how it moves, it seems very likely to me that someone did make a call to the local police station after taking a plate number and that's how this journalist wound up in custody. But that is only my speculation, as you rightly point out. It is also my speculation that Blackwater operatives buy as much influence as possible wherever they land.

The other piece of this is that since 9/11, in my opinion, we have been inundated by "reasons" to detain journalists and imo, that's not a good thing. And it's something we should think about very carefully.

[hughee99]

26. Agreed.

I'm not suggesting that Blackwater didn't make a call. If I was a Blackwater agent doing god-knows-what in a house in Pakistan and saw someone taking pictures of my house, I'd at least give the police a call. I don't know if the caller (whoever it might have been) had any idea who the person taking the pictures was. I have a hunch that their first instinct wasn't that it was a phototjournalist. In either case, while I'm certainly not condoning holding the journalist, given all of the horrible shit Blackwater does, calling the police to harass a photographer for a few hours sounds to me like they might be "going soft".

I 100% agree about detaining journalists here, but I have no idea what police policy is in Pakistan given the issues they have to deal with. I wouldn't be surprised to see this was more about the local police making sure they cover their own ass, than about anything Blackwater was the driving force behind.

:)

[EFerrari]

27. Pakistan is a pretty scary place right now.

The push back against the local Taliban (not the Afghan one) went into high gear earlier this year and there have been hundreds of thousands of displaced people, suicide bombings, it's very bad. You're right that Blackwater might not be the very first thing that comes to the mind of a cop there right now.

[pauldp]

4. What the f*ck is Blackwater doing in Pakistan? nt

[winyanstaz]

15. they are hard at work trying to start another war...

[pauldp]

16. the recession must have hit them too. nt

[cory777]

18. names of the Blackwater employees in Pakistan

http://www.kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2009/11/04/11157.shtml

[Alamuti Lotus]

19. committing acts of terrorism and espionage, primarily

these shady mercenaries are still causing much trouble ("change you can, um....."). These criminals should remember how the great citizens of al-Fallujah reacted to their activities and just kill themselves now to save the trouble.

[timtom]

29. There! Right there!

That is THE REAL question. Then, of course, the more over-riding question is something like, "What the f*ck are WE doing in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan in the first f*cking place???"

Besides, I thought Blackwater was finished as a viable entity.

[pauldp]

30. Agreed. And we need a line in the sand with this Blackwater/Pakistan bullshit.

They've stoked the insurgency in Iraq and you can be sure they are doing the same in Pakistan.
This is some fucked up shit.

[iamtechus]

5. Article doesn't mention Blackwater, just Backwater. /nt

[Plucketeer]

8. The header says "bLackwater"...

.... I would assume the subsequent uses of "Backwater" were intended as saracsm. Aren't they calling themselves XE now anyways???

[EFerrari]

11. Scahill says they have a bunch of different brands.

They have been "working" with the Pakistani police and army against the Taliban. I hope that goes better than their "work" in Iraq.

[sattahipdeep]

9. Technical Issues

The Nation website is facing some technical issues. We working to resolve the problem as soon as possible.Please try back after 30 minutes.

Unable to connect to your database server using the provided settings.

[placton]

14. if only the PRESIDENT

knew about this! He would do something, I am sure.

[dflprincess]

24. There we go, winning hearts and minds again.

:sarcasm:

[quakerboy]

28. Would I be safe in assuming that it is my tax dollars paying for

Blackwater to be in Pakistan?

[EFerrari]

31. Yessir.