The Law Ministry has finally given a green signal to the judicial commission probing the raid on al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden by US troops in Abbottabad, to submit its report to Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, Pakistan Today has learnt.
A well-placed source in the government said that the commission had finalised its 700-page report on the alleged killing of bin Laden on May 2, 2011, about two months ago, but could not file it with the prime minister because one of its members was sick and under treatment in the United States.
The commission, constituted on June 21, 2011, has not yet submitted its report despite a lapse of 17 months.
However, the source added that after getting clearance from the Law Ministry, the commission would submit its report to the government in the next few days. The source added that the commission had compiled its report after interviewing over 300 witnesses and scrutinising more than 3,000 documents. The source added that the statements of high-ranking civil and military officials besides the eye-witness accounts of the family members of Osama bin Laden were part of the report.
Two members of the commission have already signed the report, which would be submitted to the government without the signatures of former inspector general of Police Abbas Khan who is under treatment in the US and is yet to return to Pakistan.
Justice (r) Javed Iqbal, who is heading the commission, told reporters that the Law Ministry had been officially asked to cancel the membership of Abbas Khan because he was not available to sign the report, which must be signed by all the members.
Iqbal also revealed that the report had been completed two months ago, and would be submitted as soon as the Law Ministry removes the requirement of Abbas Khan’s signatures.
Analysts however believed that it might be a move to pass the buck to the Law Ministry to avoid the blame of extra-ordinary delay in making the report public. They said that the cancellation of one member’s membership from the commission would not guarantee speedy revelation of the report’s contents.
The Abbottabad Commission also had to wait a couple of months to record the statement of former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, but the idea was scrapped later to avoid further delay, the source said.
The commission has reportedly recorded the statements of the heads of military and civil intelligence agencies, the director general of military operations (DGMO), Pakistan’s ambassador to Washington, present and former foreign ministers and secretaries, and the family members of Osama bin Laden.
