Is the commission hearing this?
The revelation by a leaked email of a US-based intelligence firm that mid to senior level officials in the ISI and military knew the arrangements of Osama bin Laden and his safe-house in Abbottabad is disturbing indeed. The email leaked by WikiLeaks was written by Stratfor’s vice president Fred Burton to one of his company’s regional director for South Asia soon after the killing of the Al-Qaeda chief in the Navy SEALS attack on May 2nd last year.
The released WikiLeak indicated that Burton was unable to provide his regional directorate with the names of the ISI and Pakistan military officials who had knowledge of this arrangement for OBL. But he asserted that US Intelligence was aware of it. The government of Pakistan has once again rebuffed the claim, reiterating its earlier stance that it had no knowledge of the whereabouts of the Al-Qaeda chief. Stratfor was meanwhile subjected to scathing criticism by The Atlantic magazine, saying the group’s reputation among foreign policy writers, analysts, and practitioners is poor: “They are considered a punchline more often than a source of valuable information or insight.”
However, the disturbing disclosure comes at a time when a judicial commission is already conducting investigation into the attacks carried out by the US planes in the country’s garrison town. Ten months have elapsed since the operation was launched but so far the commission has not been able to complete the probe and furnish its findings to the government.
There is a need for expeditious completion of this investigation because further delay in the process could only strengthen the perception that the commissions set up to probe affairs involving security officials are never granted the independence they require. On the contrary, those investigating allegations against civilians are often seen going the extra mile to accomplish their tasks as evident from the proceedings of the Memogate commission.