Make the report public

Or no one will believe the Commission

It took CIA 15 long years to finally catch up with Osama bin Laden. OBL was not found in the “hole” from which former US President George W Bush had pledged to smoke him out, but living comfortably in a large house in the cantonment city of Abbottabad. The discovery stunned many Pakistanis who had been used to hearing angry denials from government and security officials whenever any foreigner talked about the possibility of OBL being somewhere in Pakistan. Initially, PM Gilani welcomed Osama’s killing as a great victory. Then suddenly, without any explanation, he withdrew the statement. This led to a widespread public demand for enquiry. The issue was taken up in a joint session of Parliament where a resolution was passed to set up an “independent commission to fix responsibility and recommend necessary measures to ensure that such an incident does not recur”.

The way the Commission was set up raised many eyebrows. The Leader of the Opposition was not consulted in violation of the spirit of the resolution. The initial statement did not detail the Commission’s terms of reference. Neither did it set a timeframe for the investigation. It was unknown whether or not the Commission would be authorised to fix responsibility for the Abbottabad fiasco.

The Commission has taken 18 months to prepare a report which has now been submitted to the PM. It was expected that the Commission would concentrate on how the much wanted foreigner managed to sneak into Pakistan in violation of the country’s sovereignty. Further, how could the man with a truckload of wives, children, grandchildren and dependants move from place to place and father four children, two born in public hospitals, without being detected. It dismayed many when the focus shifted to an altogether different issue. The Commission showed more interest in how the US found OBL in Abbottabad. It ordered the trial of a Pakistani doctor who had helped in the discovery of OBL. It also sought help of legal experts on international affairs to ascertain whether the US military operation was conducted under the UN’s charter or not. Within a month of the initiation of the enquiry, a member of the Commission told an Australian Radio that the ISI and military were not aware of Osama bin Laden’s presence in Abbottabad. This was widely construed as an attempt to influence the enquiry.

The Commission was set up at public demand and after a parliamentary resolution. The questions raised by the presence of OBL in Abbottabad continue to disturb many Pakistanis. What is more is that public money has been spent on the preparation of the report. The report should therefore be made public. In case it is not, a perception of there being some sort of cover up is likely to be created.