UN blames Musharraf govt for Benazir Bhutto’s murder
Dawn: UN blames Musharraf govt for Benazir Bhutto’s murder
A three-member United Nations commission investigating the events and circumstances surrounding Benazir Bhutto’s assassination has blamed the government of former president Pervez Musharraf for the murder, saying it failed to provide adequate a security cover to the former prime minister.
Although no functionary of the former government has been accused of complicity in the murder, the 65-page report has blamed Pervez Musharraf’s government, particularly its police and security network of negligence.
It said the present government was free to carry out further investigations and bring those responsible for the crime as well as negligence to justice.
The three-member panel, headed by Chilean ambassador Heraldo Munoz, submitted its report to UN Secretary General Ban ki Moon on Thursday afternoon. He immediately handed it over to Pakistan’s UN envoy Hussain Haroon. However, at the eleventh hour Islamabad decided against making its content public before the findings were studied by senior government officials.
Senior officials of Pakistan’s mission had earlier indicated that on receiving the UN Commission’s report Ambassador Hussain Haroon would share its findings at a news conference.
However, the media event was postponed at the last minute and it was announced that the findings would now be made public in Islamabad by senior members of the government. Still, the UN secretariat decided that it was too important a report to be kept hidden from the public, and at a hurriedly arranged news conference made the report public.
As people in Pakistan waited eagerly for the release of the findings of the UN probe body, security in the country was beefed up, with United Nations mission in Pakistan advising its staff to act cautiously and avoid going to public places.
Though details contained in the report were not known, UN officials stationed in Pakistan were not prepared to take any chances, fearing a possible backlash.
Pakistani officials said police and paramilitary troops were on high alert, and security was being stepped up outside the foreign missions and UN office, but only as a precautionary measure.
In Islamabad, a senior official earlier said there were no startling revelations in the report. The 3-member probe body headed by the Chilean ambassador to the UN has mostly relied on evidence collected by talking to the same set of officials and other people who had already made their views public. Analysts say its hard to believe that the Un panel would clear state its views on any major conspiracy involving state or non-state actors in the assassination.
The UN panel was to hand over its report on March 30 but on the request of the Pakistani authorities it delayed release by two weeks.
An official of the UN told the media in New York that despite this delay no fresh detatils were inserted into the report.
• UN probe was “hampered” by Pakistani intelligence
• Police failure to probe the assassination “deliberate”
• Security arrangements were “fatally insufficient”
• Several conspiracy theories have been circulating since the assassination
• Need for criminal investigation to look into the role of Al Qaeda, Taliban, and what is known in Pakistan as “establishment”
• Declaration by government that Benazir was killed by a hatch of the vehicle, and that Baitullah Mehsud was responsible were premature, and before proper investigation
• Hosing of the area of bomb blast and failure to conduct post-mortem badly affected investigation. Officials and their superior responsible
• Responsibility of the present government to carry out serious investigation to bring the conspirator and perpetrator of the crime to justice.
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What this report has uncovered – in one word “NADA”
This report is an expected joke from UNO.
No one is blamed and everyone is responsible.
No one is killer but everyone failed to protect.
The job of commission is told to expose the facts not the killers.
Report lose its credibility when it says there was no deal between BB and Musharaf.
It was not required by commission to talk about any deal BB had made if it was necessary then
theres should also be list of beneficiaries of BB death.
Why Zardari stopped the release of this report is hard and tough question.
Theres nothing against Zardari in this report
Mush blamed not in person but as Army Chief then ISI which was head by Kiyani.
Zardari probably trying to earn some respect of Kiyani by stopping the release of report.
What a waste of money! Does the report say anything different from what we said at the time free of charge. How much did the Government pay for it?
Should we ask Jiyalas to do a collection to reimburse the national treasury since Zardari is “masoom” and destitute and never corruptly enriched himself?
Zakota jin nay pehli dafa koi sur ki baat ki hai
http://www.jang.com.pk/jang/apr2010-daily/16-04-2010/updates/4-16-2010_27838_1.gif
Talat man oh man – Meer bhi kia sada hain
http://www.express.com.pk/epaper/PoPupwindow.aspx?newsID=1100914580&Issue=NP_LHE&Date=20100417
BB ke shahadat key gawah kun chup hain. Kun nahi long march kartey?
kar jaey dardhi wala pakra jaey moonchoon wala, if these officers are guilty then Rehman Malik name should be on top, hell they even revoked a contract then of spokeman of Int Ministry.
Funny thing is even UN report acknowledges that police couoldnt have washed the scene without order from above. Stupid awwam will soon yeling ek zardari sab par bhari for doing all this crap.
Geo: BB death probe begins: six officials made OSD
Six senior officials on Sunday were made Official on Special Duty (OSD) and their names were put on the Exit Control List (ECL), for being responsible for the security of Benazir Bhutto on December 27, 2007 in Rawalpindi.
Taking action on the recently released UN report, the government made the officials OSD, and investigation has been launched against them.
The government also cancelled the contract of DG Civil Defence Brigadier Javed Iqbal Cheema (retired), who was then spokesman of Interior Ministry and had claimed that BB’s death was due to the hitting of van’s roof but not the bullet.
Those officials who were made OSD include former DCO Rawalpindi Irfan Illahi, former Rawalpindi DPO Saood Aziz, SPs Khoram Shahzad, Ishfaq Anwar, Abdul Majeed Marwat and Yaseen Farooqi.
United Nation Report
I have posted same report, U can click to read on top of page
The News by Shakeel Anjum: Saud Aziz, others in ‘safe custody’
Where have the police officers facing trial in Benazir Bhutto’s assassination gone? Where is the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Saud Aziz and why, all of a sudden, has he become inaccessible since April 22, 2010 the day he reported to the Establishment Division in Islamabad after he was removed from the post of the Regional Police Officer (RPO), Multan, and made Officer on Special Duty (OSD)?
The situation is becoming intriguing and there are wide apprehensions that things might turn ugly. The whole issue got shrouded in a thick pall of mystery since the three-member committee was constituted on the order of Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Gilani, with one point mandate to ascertain as to who actually ordered the hosing down of the crime scene within hours after the fatal suicide attack against Benazir Bhutto.
It is already on record that DIG Saud Aziz, whether acting on his own or under some sort of pressure that he was unable to stand up to, gave the statement before the three-member Fact Finding Committee that he received no verbal or written orders from anybody, including former chief of the Military Intelligence (MI) Maj-Gen Ejaz Nadeem, about hosing down the crime scene within hours of the occurrence of the incident, and almost took the whole blame unto himself, pleading that it happened because of his negligence.
When contacted, some highly placed and credible sources told The News that these police officers, including DIG Saud Aziz, had been taken into ‘safe custody’ by some intelligence agencies for their safety and security.
“Such a step was necessary in the wake of the ongoing investigations by the three-member ‘Fact Finding Team’ appointed by the prime minister as well as the one being conducted by the second ‘Joint Investigation Team’ set up in the FIA to further the probe in the light of the findings and indications mentioned in the UN Commission Report,” the sources told The News.
Most of the police officers, especially DIG Saud Aziz, were pointed out in the UN Commission Report as suspects with possibility of their involvement in execution of the assassination plan of Benazir Bhutto.
“Their activities and their telephone conversations are being monitored. They are not allowed to keep cellular phones with them and they were being taken to investigating agencies for recording their statements amidst tight security. They are escorted back to unknown places where they are being kept after recording their statements,” the sources told The News.
The News managed to contact a close relative of DIG Saud Aziz, who said Saud had been taken into custody by security agencies after he was made an Officer on Special Duty (OSD). “Since then, we don’t know about his whereabouts, neither has he contacted his family, “ the close relative said.
However, The News learnt through its sources that DIG Saud Aziz, who was CPO at the time of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in Rawalpindi, is being kept in a Rest House near Islamabad and he was not allowed to meet anybody.
“Saud Aziz is not allowed to speak the truth about the execution of Benazir’s assassination plan and he is doing only what he has been told to do like taking the blame on the pretext of negligence of duties,” some well placed sources in the relevant corners told The News.
“You can say that he has ‘agreed’ or has been ‘forced’ to take the blame for being indirectly responsible for hosing down the crime scene only to bail out the former MI chief Maj-Gen Nadeem Ijaz,” the sources said, adding: “He had no other option but to offer himself as the scapegoat the government is looking for.”