The commission that was tasked with investigating the events leading up to the May 2 Abbottabad raid in which Osama bin Laden was killed, has decided not to make its report public. Instead, it will only release a summary of its findings. If it does keep the report secret, the commission will be guilty of shirking its duty. The point of setting up the commission was to make public the security and intelligence lapses that led to the Navy SEALS raid, not to cover them up. Citizens have a right to know how their government failed. Rather, it seems, the commission’s mere existence was meant to be enough to placate the public. Getting a chance to read through its findings was likely never a priority for a military that has, of late, employed a practice of keeping secrets from the very citizens it is meant to serve. Perhaps, one reason for the secrecy is that the OBL commission lost sight of its original mandate. Press reports suggest that it was far more interested in scapegoating civilians like former ambassador to the US, Husain Haqqani, than investigating any wrongdoing on part of the establishment. It also showed little or no curiosity about trying to investigate how Osama bin Laden was able to come to Pakistan and find safe refuge here for so many years.
Then again, we shouldn’t be surprised that the commission’s report is being kept secret. In Pakistan, the point of commissions seems to be to ensure that nothing damaging is ever uncovered or revealed to the public. The Hamoodur Rehman commission report gathered dust for decades (till it was published by one newspaper after being leaked in India) while, more recently, the commission tasked with finding the killers of journalist Saleem Shahzad seemed more interested in exonerating the ISI than in pursuing the perpetrators. When the OBL commission missed its deadline of early May for wrapping up its work and the end of May for making its report public, one hoped that the delay meant it was still busy putting together all the pieces of Bin Laden’s presence in the country. Now, it is clear that the commission was only buying time in the hope that the people would forget why it existed in the first place. We urge to make public the report so we can try and learn from our mistakes.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 4th, 2012.
COMMENTS (6)
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keep dreaming.
Will the Supreme court take Suo Moto notice of this - or would they rather choose thier battles and trample only on the weak
Announcement of a SHORT Report like the short verdicts we are getting, time to correct spelling commas and fullstops then releasing. After that there will be ample time to get the feedback from main players fill the papers for detailed report, precaution if the detailed report ever forced to be release. Example Mahmood ur rahman commission's report.
Salute the courage and sagacity of the Editorial Team ! ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ calling a spade a spade and obfuscation as obfuscation.
Please wait 30 years,.
This is a very fair and pragmatic editorial by a independent paper. No matter how true or logical you are the deep state is not going to disclose the protectors of OBL period. The commission has been more interested in Pakistani envoys to the West than the generals who were the in charge of Abbottabad base and ISI in the last decade. The delays and wrong focus proves that the commission was an exercise in a whole lot of nothing. It is civilian's money and resources that are once again wasted. However, one cannot expect anything different from the judges who are more interested in a memo than OBL's presence and his safety network. It also proves that the US was justified in taking the action on its own knowing full well that the deep state is not serious in war on terror.