Not the ultimate objective

Letter March 26, 2017
What's the use of forming bodies and constituting inquiry commissions when execution is not the ultimate objective?

LARKANA: This refers to the recent editorial “Haqqani investigation “(March 19). I agree with the crux of the editorial that parliamentary committees (PCs) are not competent enough to probe both sensitive and complex issue of ‘Haqqani allegations’ recently revealed by ex-ambassador Hussain Haqqani  in The Washington Post  regarding the   deployment of CIA operatives and the 2nd May 2011 US raid that killed Osama bin Laden (OBL) in Abbottabad. The mandate of PCs is limited to oversight and monitoring of the ministries concerned on administrative functioning, expenditures and policies. Those are not investigative structures; this is why they cannot be entrusted with the responsibility of probing this complex matter.

The canvas of the alleged plot in question is crowded with national and international characters and organisations calling for a credible mechanism to separate wheat from chaff.

Expecting the foreign affairs committee singlehandedly or in conjunction with the NA committee on defence to determine the truth is barking up the wrong tree. The speaker was ‘averse ‘to the idea of constitution of parliamentary commission because the government wants to let this slip into a maze of mock inquiry or scapegoating is desired. Two aspects need to be impartially investigated - who sponsored OBL here and how he dodged our intelligence agencies.

What is the use of forming committees and constituting inquiry commissions when the execution is not the ultimate objective? It is said that committees are formed and matters referred to them for an eyewash and judicial commission investigations are unimplemented.

Nazeer Ahmed Arijo

Published in The Express Tribune, March 26th, 2017.

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