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Sunday, September 9, 2012

After Brink's, Security giant GS4 decided to leave Pakistan

The world's top security firm, UK-based G4S, has decided to leave Pakistan, where it operates under the name Wackenhut Pakistan Ltd, following a government crackdown in Islamabad on foreign security companies suspected of supporting terrorism in Pakistan. It is the second foreign firm to pull out of Pakistan after US-based Brink's Company which left the country in 2001 and re-named to Phoenix Armour Pvt Ltd. The G4S came into global attention when it failed to supply an agreed number of security personnel for the London Olympics, forcing the UK to deploy its army troops in London for security.

G4S was founded as a result of the merger of the United Kingdom-based Securicor plc with the Denmark-based Group 4 Falck in 2004, is a multinational security services company. It received its license to operate in Pakistan about 20 years ago and employs more than 10,000 personnel, including 150 women guards with clients ranging from United Nations to multinational companies, banks in Karachi, Islamabad, and Lahore.

The private security business is booming in Karachi, the country's financial capital, where a worsening security situation continues to fuel investors' concerns. Federal Government of Pakistan has so far been least concerned about the problems of the businessmen and industrialists in Karachi, where industries contribute 67% to national coffers and 35% to gross domestic product. 

Foreign direct investment (FDI) fell 50% to $812 million in the financial year that ended on June 30, as against $1.63 billion in the previous 12 months. The decline in foreign investment is attributed to political uncertainty, a deep and worsening energy crisis and the prevailing law and order situation. 

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