Abbottabad commission: Justice Iqbal denies submitting final report
Abbottabad Commission Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal has outright rejected claims of submitting to the government a report over the circumstances that led to the death of al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, officials said.
UK newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported on Monday that the five-member commission had cleared the government and the military establishment of allegations of having protected the al Qaeda kingpin.
The retired Supreme Court judge, however, denied on Tuesday that the commission had submitted any report on the Abbottabad incident to the government, according to a junior officer associated with the office of the commission’s chairman.
“Justice Sahib wants to sue The Daily Telegraph,” another senior official told The Express Tribune.
Almost one and a half year has passed since the commission was assigned to investigate the reasons that led to the May 2, 2011 raid by US Navy SEALs in Abbottabad.
Last month, the commission stated that the report had been compiled and would be submitted to the government soon.
Another official, while giving reasons for the delay, told The Express Tribune that two members of the commission have not been available in order for the report to be finalised.
Former Punjab police chief Abbas Khan is facing heart problems and could, therefore, not attend meetings of the commission, while Ashraf Jehangir Qazi was unable to attend the meetings due to the death of his brother in Balochistan. Therefore, the commission’s secretary has yet to take their signatures on the report.
Last month, the law ministry directed the commission to prepare its report by the end of October.
Meetings with top brass
Justice Iqbal is likely to meet the top civilian leadership and military brass before submitting his report.
“Justice Sahib wants to hold separate meetings with the top civilian and military leaderships next month,” a member of the commission told The Express Tribune on Tuesday. The over 120-page report is likely to be submitted to the government in November, he added.
Justice Iqbal will take the president and prime minister and the Inter-Services Intelligence chief and the army chief into confidence over some important revelations of the report, said officials privy to the development.
Furthermore, they added that after the meetings, the commission’s chairman would take a final decision on whether or not to make the report public.
Meanwhile, the junior officer associated with the office of the commission’s chairman shared some interesting details of the report with The Express Tribune, saying, “All four members of the commission have written separate notes on the report.”
Former diplomat Ashraf Jahangir Qazi, a key member of the commission, in his separate note, has strongly recommended the government to take action against the military officials who failed to find Bin Laden’s hideouts, he added.
Lt Gen (retd) Nadeem Ahmed, in his note, recommended the report not be made public due to the sensitivity of the matter, said the official.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 24th, 2012.
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@numbersnumbers: Dear numbers, You keep asking me to answer questions that you and I really do not have the answers to, because the CIA have a habit of concealing the truth (I think they call it lies) , and Abbottabad was a CIA operation. However, you, Cautious, and anybody else disposed to believe fairy tales may do so, but I will not. I could, if you wish, become involved in the minutiae which you guys appear to delight in, when it suits you, but which you ignore in my case, but the bottom line, which blows your case, and that of Washington out of the water is, show me the body of Osama bin Laden? A Sherlock Holmes maxim is: "once you have disposed of the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. The lame excuse that Osama bin Laden's body is in the North Arabian Sea just does not jell. If you want to persist with this argument it must be the first time in US legal history that this type of nonsense has been accepted. I personally like to follow legal precedents, which are safe in law, and there is nothing legally safe about what happened to Osama bin Laden. In other words, where is your proof about what happened to Osama bin Laden?
@numbersnumbers: Dear numbersnumbers, Perhaps you should ask the navy seals who were supposedly on the job what happened, but WOW they all mysteriously died didn't they.
@Sexton Blake: WOW, You neglected to answer ANY of the 6 questions dealing with the OBL raid that @Cautious posted about the OBL raid In your response to his comment! As for your "not entirely accurate" statement, we wonder why you haven't corrected those "inaccuracies"!!!
@Cautious: Dear Cautious, You put up a valiant argument. As usual, not altogether accurate, but the main thing you forgot to mention is that nobody has produced Osama bin Laden's body yet, and that I should think is the most important point if you wish to be believed.
@Sexton Blake: So therefore free Dr. Afridi immediately.
@antony: "Don't be delusional" Dear antony, Everybody with a spare twenty dollars or so who wants a GPS system has one, and can get within a metre or so of where they want to go, and of course the helicopters would have found Abbottabad easily. That is why General Mattis was not telling the truth when he said that it was difficult to identify the Pakistan/Afghan border. As for Pakistan detection equipment, I am certain they have better systems than say Britain had in WWII, and the British could accurately identify enemy aircraft at night in the 1940s. Additionally, after a half hour gun battle I think the Pakistan military might have had a clue that some thing was not quite right, and would have at least picked up on the helicopters return journey from Abbottabad. Silly me did not consider that anybody would take my precied explanation so literally, without reading between the lines. However, you did, and if it makes you feel better I could give you a serious blow by blow description about what possibly happened if you think it might help. Unfortunately, PT probably would not like it if I wrote 2 or 3 thousand words.
@Sexton Blake.
Rubbish. By all accts the Salala incident took place at 2 AM in the dark - your own Generals used that as an excuse for the poor response time. Wikipedia indicates the incident started with Pakistani soldiers firing flares and mortars and the American's responded with air power. If you believe the Abbottabad raid was a sham them please give us a reasonable explanation for what happened - hopefully you can explain the following. . 1) The tail rotor of the American helicopter found at the site 2) OBL wifes and children found at the site 3) Why no Pakistani political or military leader has disputed the American's statements. 4) Why the Republican leadership would agree that OBL was killed in the raid. 5) Why the need to arrest Afridi 6) The need for an Abbottobad Commission. . Conspiracy theorist have one thing in common -- they have to ignore mountains of evidence to sustain their bias.
@sexton blake " Then about ten years later US navy seals flew all the way across Pakistan in the dead of night, located the correct house in Abbottabad, right next door to a military base, kidnapped Osama bon Laden and dropped him into the sea so that nobody can ever determine whether President Obama is telling the truth or not"
Your entire country top view is on google via ordinary gps satellites and why do you think its difficult for sophisticated American spy satellites . Did you see the picture of bombed stealth aircraft left behind for your view the next day ? . Next you dont believe american technological prowess but believe pakistan's technology prowess by the following lines "What really is unbelievable is that a flotilla of US helicopters flew across Pakistan there and back without being picked up by Pakistani detection equipment"... Dont be delusional!! .
Yawn -- how many times have we read Abbottabad articles which were dead wrong? Whether it's deadlines, content or whatever the only thing consistent is that the articles are off base and the report (if it even exists) remains in limbo.
“Justice Sahib wants to sue The Daily Telegraph,” Go ahead and sue the paper, why wait? How many times have we done that in the past even without success? When the SC CJ finds a few generals and many politicians committing acts of high treason and stealing public funds and finds them guilty nobody is punished by the court despite all the proofs. This commission report is not going to hold any general responsible. After OBL's death and the US president's announcement the deep state had only two choices either admit that they knew about the US attack or show ignorance and be called incompetent. They chose to be incompetent both in Abbottabad and Salala.
@Enlightened: Dear Enlightened, The truth is always good, and we do not get to hear too much of it. First off, a few Saudis beat the entire American US air force and roamed around the American countryside, in stolen aircraft, for several hours before crashing them into a few buildings, and Osama bin Laden in an Afghanistan cave on a dialysis machine got the blame. Then about ten years later US navy seals flew all the way across Pakistan in the dead of night, located the correct house in Abbottabad, right next door to a military base, kidnapped Osama bon Laden and dropped him into the sea so that nobody can ever determine whether President Obama is telling the truth or not. What makes the US Abbottabad navigation somewhat unbelievable is that US General Mattis stated that US/NATO could not accurately locate the Pakistan/Afghan border, in broad daylight, when they shot up a Pakistan border post killing 24 soldiers, but somehow they found Abbottabad. Perhaps it was a lie, although maybe the US military budget ran to a GPS navigation system for Abbottabad? Further, after invading Afghanistan the US accused Iraq of having weapons of mass destruction, so they bombed Iraq into the stone age. It is my understanding that the US is still looking for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Another big lie. What really is unbelievable is that a flotilla of US helicopters flew across Pakistan there and back without being picked up by Pakistani detection equipment. As you can see it would be good if the Pakistan Abbottabad Commission told the truth. The world has heard enough lies..
Tribune scoops are sometimes advance intelligence
Justice Iqbal is the most thoughtful and considerate person who does not want to blame or harm or give heart attack to anyone or disclose any sensitive information on OBL episode as the man in question, an international fugitive is already dead and his wives and children safely deported therefore no useful purpose would be served except causing great embarrassment to Govt of Pakistan and its establishments if sensational disclosures are made public. Thus the OBL chapter would be finally closed and buried in the deep seas by the worthy commission.
Justice Sahib wants the commission to continue its inquiry etc. as long as he is still around and can spend the monies he draws as its chairman this gurantees his job.
Actually Pakistan and US' governments both intentionally want to camouflage the realities,facts,reasons and truths regarding Osama's compound's attack/operation by US' special forces by violating the Pakistan's sovereignty from Pakistani nation and international media this is why the delaying tactics are being used by the US' and Pakistani governments so that no one could know the realities,truths,reasons and facts behind the attack/operation against Osama Bin Ladin in Pakistan.....
No hurry to conclude the report. Afterall who would be wanting to give-up lucrative remueneration.
Please do not tell me that the Abbottabad Commission members are so low functioning that they believe the US navy seals captured Osama Bin Laden and dropped his body in the Indian Ocean. I know that President Obama wanted to pick up a few advantage points for the coming election, but what is in it for the Pakistan Commission?
We know who you are and we know what you did!