Probing May 2 raid: Abbottabad panel seeks to record PM’s statement
Commission member says Gilani was chief executive of Pakistan when US killed Bin Laden; must know something important.
ISLAMABAD:
The judicial commission probing the Abbottabad incursion which killed the al Qaeda chief is hoping to pencil in a ‘meeting’ with the prime minister to ‘record his statement’ before concluding its report, a top official revealed.
“The commission will send a formal request to the premier to have a meeting with its members when he comes back from his London trip,” an official privy to the Abbottabad Commission proceedings told The Express Tribune on Sunday.
“Yousaf Raza Gilani was the chief executive of the country at the time when Osama bin Laden was taken out by American commandos… He must have something important to share with us,” the official quoted one of the commission members as saying.
“His is going to be a very crucial statement and we would like to hear from him.”
Commandos of the US Navy, known as SEALs, raided a housing compound in Abbottabad on May 2, 2011 and killed the al Qaeda chief who had been living there for more than five years.
The government subsequently formed a five-member judicial commission to probe the presence of the world’s most-wanted man close to Pakistan’s premier military training facility and the circumstances leading to his death in a night raid by US troops.
The commission was due to submit its report by the end of 2011 but is still struggling to finalise the investigations reportedly because of “indecision” on whether to hold somebody from within the Pakistani political or military leadership responsible.
The revelation that the commission wanted to record the premier’s statement comes weeks after it was reported that the judicial body was likely to partially blame Gilani for the raid.
It was on his orders, according to reports, that former Pakistan ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani issued visas to several hundred operators of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) who tracked down the al Qaeda leader.
But the commission denied these reports in a statement the next day. It was reported last week that the commission was also waiting for replies to a set of questions it sent to President Asif Ali Zardari more than two months ago.
A member of the commission also clarified that the questions sent to Zardari were not sent bearing in mind that he was the head of the state but the chief of a political party.
The judicial body has interviewed heads and representatives of almost every political party to ‘seek their suggestions’.
Reports also surfaced suggesting the completion of the report was highly unlikely by the end of this month as announced earlier.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 14th, 2012.
The judicial commission probing the Abbottabad incursion which killed the al Qaeda chief is hoping to pencil in a ‘meeting’ with the prime minister to ‘record his statement’ before concluding its report, a top official revealed.
“The commission will send a formal request to the premier to have a meeting with its members when he comes back from his London trip,” an official privy to the Abbottabad Commission proceedings told The Express Tribune on Sunday.
“Yousaf Raza Gilani was the chief executive of the country at the time when Osama bin Laden was taken out by American commandos… He must have something important to share with us,” the official quoted one of the commission members as saying.
“His is going to be a very crucial statement and we would like to hear from him.”
Commandos of the US Navy, known as SEALs, raided a housing compound in Abbottabad on May 2, 2011 and killed the al Qaeda chief who had been living there for more than five years.
The government subsequently formed a five-member judicial commission to probe the presence of the world’s most-wanted man close to Pakistan’s premier military training facility and the circumstances leading to his death in a night raid by US troops.
The commission was due to submit its report by the end of 2011 but is still struggling to finalise the investigations reportedly because of “indecision” on whether to hold somebody from within the Pakistani political or military leadership responsible.
The revelation that the commission wanted to record the premier’s statement comes weeks after it was reported that the judicial body was likely to partially blame Gilani for the raid.
It was on his orders, according to reports, that former Pakistan ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani issued visas to several hundred operators of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) who tracked down the al Qaeda leader.
But the commission denied these reports in a statement the next day. It was reported last week that the commission was also waiting for replies to a set of questions it sent to President Asif Ali Zardari more than two months ago.
A member of the commission also clarified that the questions sent to Zardari were not sent bearing in mind that he was the head of the state but the chief of a political party.
The judicial body has interviewed heads and representatives of almost every political party to ‘seek their suggestions’.
Reports also surfaced suggesting the completion of the report was highly unlikely by the end of this month as announced earlier.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 14th, 2012.