UNITED NATIONS (Agencies) – The 2007 murder of former premier Benazir Bhutto could have been averted if adequate security measures had been taken, a report by a UN-appointed independent panel said Thursday.
The 65-page report said that the inquiry commission believes the failure by Pakistani authorities to effectively investigate Bhutto’s death was ‘deliberate’. It added that the UN probe was ‘severely hampered’ by intelligence agencies and government officials.
The government of former president Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf was responsible for Benazir’s assassination, the UN report finds out.
Monitoring Desk adds: Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United Nations Hussain Haroon cancelled his scheduled Press conference at the UN after receiving the report of an independent panel into murder of Benazir Bhutto from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, reported a private TV channel.
The panel first handed over the document to the UN Secretary-General after complying with Islamabad’s request for a two-week delay. Pakistani government said last week it had asked that the release, initially scheduled for March 30, be delayed so that input from Afghanistan, the United States and Saudi Arabia could be included.
On Wednesday, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky told a Press briefing that the panel headed by Chile’s ambassador to the UN Heraldo Munoz would formally present its report to UN chief Ban Ki-moon Thursday afternoon.
“The Secretary General then intends to transmit it to the government of Pakistan, and he will also share it, for information purposes, with the members of the Security Council,” the spokesman added.
Munoz and one of the other panel members, Indonesian ex-attorney general Marzuki Darusman, were to give a Press conference late Thursday to provide details of the report.
According to the TV channel, security has been put on high alert throughout Pakistan on the eve of release of UN report into Benazir’s assassination.