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UN delays Ms Bhutto assassination inquiry report

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Islamabad, March 31, IRNA -- The UN Commission, probing the assassination of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto, has delayed presentation of its inquiry report for two weeks on the request of the Pakistani president, the UN said.

The commission head, Heraldo Munoz, Chilean ambassador to the UN, was scheduled to present the report to the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon by March 31.

“The secretary-general has accepted an urgent request by the President of Pakistan to delay the presentation of the report of the Commission of Inquiry into the facts and circumstances of the assassination of the former Pakistani prime minister Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto until April 15, 2010,” a UN statement said.

“The Commission has informed the secretary-general that, as of today, all relevant facts and circumstances have been explored, and the report is now complete and ready to be delivered,” said the statement, also issued by the UN information center in Islamabad.

The UN Commission of Inquiry was constituted on Pakistan’s request last year to look into the facts and circumstances of the assassination of Ms. Bhutto.

The commission members paid several visits to Pakistan and the last was in the last week of February. They had also visited the site of attack on Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, who was killed in firing and suicide attack in the city of Rawalpindi on December 27, 2007.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for Benazir assassination. The government had blamed the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan leader Baitullah Mehsood, who was also killed in a US drone attack last August.

The Commission was supposed to present its report to the secretary-general by March 31st and sources said that the report will be handed over to Ban Ki-moon, who will inform the government of Pakistan.

The secretary-general will present the report in the Security Council, sources said.

Heraldo Munoz, who himself paid three visits to Pakistan, insisted that the commission’s report would not mention any names of perpetrators of the assassination as its mandate was just to examine the facts and circumstances in which the killing was carried out.

“Our report would not be a smoking gun. We would not tell the names of perpetrators,” Munoz, had told a news conference during his visit late last year.

The terms of reference of the UN Commission clearly stated that the commission can interview anyone, including top military and political leaders.

However, the commission had sought an extension on grounds that its work has been affected by the chaos in Pakistan. This request had been accepted and it was given a deadline of March 31st, 2010.

**1422

End News / IRNA / News Code 1030272