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| India-Pakistan |
| Pakistan objects to UN commissions report on Benazirs murder |
| 2010-07-09 |
| [Dawn] Pakistan has pointed out a spate of inaccuracies and unsubstantiated observations in the UN Commission report into assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, saying that such unauthenticated inferences hold no credence at any level. In a letter addressed to Secretary General, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi counted, among other things, lack of attention paid to any international dimension of the tragic Dec 27, 2007 killing of the former prime minister. He also took issue with repeated but un-evidenced finger-pointing at the role of Pakistani security agencies and establishment. At the same time, the letter, which was issued on Thursday as a document of the United Nations, said the Pakistan government was taking steps to investigate the assassination. The three-member United Nations commission, which was headed by Chile's former UN ambassador Heraldo Munoz, presented its report on April 15. In particular, the foreign minister said, "Without detracting from much of the good work done by the members of the Commission." He said, "Comments and observations about the Pakistan Army, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) or the so-called Establishment, are only the opinions of the members of the Commission. They do not represent authenticated determinations based on any fact or evidence, and the same shall neither form a precedent nor a basis to lend credence to a political position in this regard, in the practice of States and/or that of international organizations." Qureshi stated that the Government of Pakistan maintained any comments, observations or findings given in the report in respect of all matters except those that were directly relevant to the facts and circumstances of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto should not be viewed as having determined any fact that relates to any matter of foreign policy of Pakistan, neither should it had the effect of influencing any position that the Government of Pakistan had been adhering hitherto. He said that the report had a serious flaw because the Commission had failed to approach third States or to provide some reliable information to unearth, if any, international linkages perpetrating, planning, financing or abetting the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, although there was mention and reliance on such sources belonging to third States. No doubt there were hiccups, and the Commission should have taken more time and effort in this regard, but unfortunately it appeared that it paid scant attention to this aspect and instead had tended to focus on internal matters. The international linkages were an important aspect of the mandate of The Commission under paragraph 3 of the terms of reference which remained unfulfilled. This is notwithstanding the fact that due to its United Nations backing, the Commission was in a far better position to carry out this inter-State inquiry owing to its global or international mandate rather than a domestic inquiry team. Further, he said that the Government of Pakistan wished to present the clear understanding to the Office of the Secretary-General that the comments and observations so made by the members of the Inquiry Commission in the report, which were not authenticated and referenced, should not be used or adopted by any State or institution as "facts determined," and in the event that any State or institution made an attempt to rely on them, then the said reliance should not hold any credence whatsoever. About the account given in the report of the tragic incident, the letter said no referential information or supporting material has been provided. Similarly, the role of different persons is discussed without any proof or material s which could have been used for further criminal investigations as desired in the report. Such supporting and relevant material would have assisted in fixing responsibility of persons mentioned therein during different stages of the provision of security to Benazir Bhutto or other arrangements which might have saved her life and which is now necessary to determine their due role or inadvertence in performance of their duties. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 He said that the report had a serious flaw because the Commission had failed to approach third States or to provide some reliable information to unearth, if any, international linkages perpetrating, planning, financing or abetting the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, although there was mention and reliance on such sources belonging to third States. Ah. Pissed off that the Evil Hindoos aren't mentioned are they? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2010-07-09 09:58 |