Revealed: Blackwater's hiring spree in Pakistan

Controversial private US security firm Blackwater is reportedly hiring ex-Pakistan security officials at mind-boggling salaries.

According to The Nation, the US firm has offered some of the retired Pakistani officials a whopping salary package of $60,000 (nearly Rs 28 lakh) per month.

But what is more noticeable is that it has hired former CIA officer Steven Cash to operate as commander-in-charge of its operations in Peshawar.

Steven Cash is a former senior US government official and has served as an intelligence

officer with the Central Intelligence Agency, first as an assistant general counsel and then with the directorate of operations.

From 2001 to 2003, Cash also served as a professional staff member and counsel for the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

Meanwhile, Interior Minister Rehman Malik has denied any presence of Blackwater personnel in Pakistan.

"I reassure people that not a single American is allowed into Pakistan without stamping of visa. There are only 411 American nationals in Pakistan out of whom 286 are diplomats while others work with different NGOs," Malik told media persons during a press conference at the Parliament House.