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Security firm’s role in Pakistan questioned

* Police raids on Inter-Risk – subcontractor for US firm DynCorp Int’l – reveal unlicensed arms

Daily Times Monitor

LAHORE: A firm providing security for US diplomats in Pakistan is equipped with sophisticated weaponry that appears more suited to Special Forces commandos, raising questions about its real role in a country facing a serious terrorist threat. Two police raids last month on Inter-Risk – a subcontractor for the US firm DynCorp International – turned up dozens of unlicensed weapons, police officials told The Washington Times.

The newspaper said the raids appeared to have exposed mixed signals within the government and “the lack of trust that continues to plague US relations with Pakistan”.

Police raided Inter-Risk six months after US Ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson wrote a letter to Interior Minister Rehman Malik asking for licenses for normally prohibited high-calibre weapons.

A senior Pakistani defence official privy to the situation said there had been “extraordinary concern among government officials over DynCorp”.

“If the US government or [non-government organisations] use the security provided by DynCorp or its subcontractor Inter-Risk... they must comply with Pakistani law,” said the official. “If anybody is here, they have to declare it,” said the official. Douglas Ebner, a spokesman for DynCorp International in Washington, said his company was complying with local law. A US official denied that the US was sending CIA operatives or special operations forces commandos to Pakistan under the guise of DynCorp guards.

However, an employee of Inter-Risk said the company does employ former Pakistani commandos. “We have no contact with these people... we don’t know what they do,” he said.

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