Are they serious?

It’s all between President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani. Fifteen days after the recommendation of the joint session of parliament, the prime minister on Tuesday appointed a five-member commission to investigate the May 2 US operation in Abbottabad. The decision had been taken in his two-hour meeting with the president.
While the government took almost two weeks to set up this commission, it seemingly became controversial on the day it was notified with at least its two members – Justice Javed Iqbal, who has been appointed its head, and Justice (r) Fakhruddin G Ebrahim – having no knowledge of their appointment. Not only that, the prime minister had also not consulted Leader of the Opposition Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.
As Justice Javed Iqbal cannot head any commission without the approval of the chief justice of Pakistan (CJP), the government did not consult the top judge before nominating his subordinate. Similarly, Fakhruddin G Ebrahim was also not consulted and he refused to be a part of this commission.
Though it’s a procedural matter, the way the government avoided consultation with the CJP not only reflects a communication gap between the executive and the judiciary, it also suggests that the government is not serious that the Abbottabad incident be investigated and its details made public. And, the armed forces would probably also not like any independent investigation into this security issue.
It is unfortunate if the formation of this commission has been “designed” to become controversial for “security reasons” to suit the interest of the military establishment which may not afford an independent commission to probe this matter and expose the failure, if nay, on its part. It was surely because of this reason that the prime minister, on the recommendation of the army chief, had appointed Adjutant Gen Lt-Gen Javed Iqbal to investigate into what was considered an intelligence failure.
What makes the govt’s intention questionable is the way the prime minister has deliberately ignored the leader of the opposition despite the unanimous resolution passed by the joint session of parliament had unambiguously recommended that “the modalities of the commission will be settled after consultations between the leader of the house and the leader of the opposition”.
It was, however, Chaudhry Nisar’s initiative that he had written a letter to the prime minister, who had adopted a laid-back approach for obvious reasons, proposing some names with his recommendations for formulating the Terms of Reference (ToRs) of the commission. Nevertheless, the government cleverly picked one of the names (Fakhruddin G Ebrahim) from the list sent by Chaudhry Nisar to claim that “meaningful consultation” had taken place.
It’s not only that the prime minister had not talked to the leader of the opposition on this issue, he had also not consulted the government’s coalition partners except the PML-Q. Similarly, Chaudhry Nisar has so far also not clarified whether what he had suggested and proposed to the prime minister in his letter had been forwarded with the consent of all opposition parties represented in parliament.
It would be inapt in case this commission becomes controversial and the parliament’s demand to probe the Abbottabad incident is swept under the carpet once for all.