UN Releases Report on Bhutto Assassination in Pakistan
VOA News 30 March 2010
A United Nations investigation into the 2007 assassination of Pakistan's former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is expected to fault the Pakistani government for failing to adequately protect her.
A U.N. official who has been briefed on the independent commission's report told VOA that investigators also fault the government for scrubbing down the crime scene after the killing.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon is expected to meet with the head of the investigating team, as well as with Pakistan's U.N. representative before releasing the final report later Tuesday.
Pakistan's government asked the United Nations last June to look into the 2007 killing of Benazir Bhutto. Although Pakistan and the United States initially blamed Pakistani Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud for her death, close allies of the famed political leader have continued to assert that government officials or her political rivals may have played a role.
Earlier this year, Mr. Ban extended the commission's mandate because of what he said was a "substantial amount of information" collected by investigators, and the need for more follow-up.
Benazir Bhutto was killed while campaigning on December 27, 2007, in a gun and suicide bomb attack in the central city Rawalpindi. Months after her death, her party emerged victorious in nationwide polls and her widower Asif Ali Zardari became president.
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