The Nation has reported that 202 personnel of the infamous security company Blackwater, now renamed Xe Worldwide, were given customs clearance at the Islamabad Airport without any check or inspection whatsoever. Not only does the clearance with out check of their baggage pose a very serious security threat but also invites comparison with the treatment Pakistanis generally receive upon arrival in the US. We are all aware of the humiliating treatment we are subjected to at US airports. Even some of the very high-ranking Pakistani officials, including ministers and dignitaries accompanying the President and Prime Minister on state visits to US, are not spared the intrusive physical searches. More often than not, they are asked to take off their shoes too. As the Pakistani authorities continue to abdicate national sovereignty in an unprecedented manner, a comparison of increasing American influence with the unstoppable encroachment of East India Company in the subcontinent during the nineteenth century seems apt. Recall Satyajit Rays epic cinematic opus 'Shatranj kay Khiladi which very aptly depicted situation of the people and their Muslim rulers of India as the British proceeded with their occupation and colonisation of the subcontinent. Apparently, we have not even learnt from our own history SALMAN MAHMOOD, Qatar, November 4.