Gone missing?: Info minister denies Abbottabad report leaked from PM's office

Pervaiz Rasheed says the report is safe and a committee had been set up to determine which parts could be released.

ISLAMABAD: Responding to reports that the original copy of the Abbottabad Commission report had gone missing from the Prime Minister’s office, the Minister for Information and Broadcasting Pervaiz Rasheed on Saturday categorically denied it, saying the copy was in the safe custody of the government.

The original report is in safe possession of the government and no unauthorised person has access to the document, he told APP.

"The report has neither disappeared nor got leaked from PM office," Rasheed clarified. He asserted that media reports and comments were based on unauthentic, incomplete and distorted versions of the report.

Replying to a question on the possibility of official release of the report, the Minister said former Prime Minister had set up a committee on February 1 this year, headed by the then Minister for Law with Foreign and Defence ministers as members to decide about complete or partial release of the
report.

The committee was also mandated to decide whether the report should be made public at all. However, the government's tenure concluded on March 16, 2013 and the findings of the committee could not be finalised by that time.

Rasheed said the present government is looking into the matter and shall make a decision about release of the report in the national interest.