US incursion: ‘Commission getting nowhere without tangible information’

PAF insists difficult terrain restricted its ability to detect aircraft or helicopters.

ISLAMABAD:

The commission headed by Justice Javed Iqbal, a former senior judge of the Supreme Court, visited the Pakistan Air Force defence command headquarters at Chaklala on Saturday, to get the view point of PAF officials.

The Air Officer Commanding (AOC) gave a briefing to the commission members.

“He [AOC] informed the commission about various locations of low and high altitude PAF radars and their operational readiness during war as well as peace time. He also indicated situations where radar systems cannot detect an intruding aircraft or helicopter due to terrain limitations,” said an official handout issued by the commission after the meeting.

The commission has held several secret meetings so far and gotten briefings from the officials of different defence departments.

In every briefing, defence officials have come up with the same stance about their inability to detect the US choppers which remained inside Pakistani territory for over an hour and conducted an operation in which al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed in the garrison city of Abbottabad.

Sources say that in view of the briefings held so far, the commission is apparently heading nowhere as no tangible information has been given to it.

Almost a month after the US raid on Osama’s compound, the government of Pakistan set up a commission headed by Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal, who was the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court before he retired from the apex court last month. He will continue as the head of the commission which includes Abbas Khan, a former inspector-general of police, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, a former diplomat, Lieutenant General (retd) Nadeem Ahmed, a former  military official as members.

The commission’s terms of reference include ascertaining facts regarding Bin Laden’s presence in Pakistan, investigating the  circumstances and facts surrounding the US operation, determining the nature, background and causes of lapses of the authorities concerned, if any, and make recommendations.

The commission is authorised to summon anyone in Pakistan, including officials of powerful secret agencies, military and civilian authorities to ascertain facts.

The commission had asked the citizens to come forward if they have any information in this regard. It will be holding its meetings in Abbottabad next week.

The Air Officer Commanding (AOC) HQ Air Defence Command, PAF, in his briefing stated that for the past several years and prior to May 2, 2011, PAF has maintained peace time posture on its western borders.

The commission was also briefed by the pilots who flew aircraft for scanning the area for intruders on the night between May1-2.

The AOC said on learning about the operation, PAF immediately took adequate operational measures in accordance with the standard operating procedures (SOP).

He said PAF aircraft continued their presence in Abbottabad area till early morning, later recovered to their respective air bases.

The commission will visit Abbottabad from September 13-15 to record statements of witnesses.



Published in The Express Tribune, September 11^th, 2011.