A United Nation team is soon expected in Pakistan for preparatory work, to launch a full probe into the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.
A United Nation team is soon expected in Pakistan for preparatory work, as the world body prepares to send a fact finding mission to launch a full probe into the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto.
The world body team is expected in Pakistan by April. The UN is in the process of recruiting officials to work in the team and to create offices in Pakistan for work related to the commission.
The team headed by a top UN official from Africa, Mark Quarterman, was scheduled to go to Pakistan in the second week of March but was forced to delay the visit to the third week of April due to the uncertain political situation in the country, the Dawn newspaper reported on Wednesday.
UN secretary general Ban Ki Moon announced the establishment of the fact-finding commission on February 4 during a visit to Pakistan. the ambassador of Chile, Heraldo Munoz, was appointed chairman of the commission.
The point man for the probe in Pakistan, interior ministry chief Rehman Malik, is busy tackling the political upheaval in the country. Malik is expected to visit Washington and New York at the end of March.
Pakistan has already given the world body USD 1.5 million for setting up the commission. The UN technical team is in the process of working out a budget and details of the commission's work.
The initial investigation by Pakistani authorities into the gun-and-bomb attack that killed Bhutto after a political rally in Rawalpindi in December 2007 blamed Baitullah Mehsud, a Pakistani Taliban commander. US intelligence officials too named him as the most likely suspect.
Bhutto's supporters have rejected those findings, suggesting that her political opponents may have been involved and tampered with the investigation. British investigators from the Scotland Yard largely confirmed the initial findings though they admitted their access to evidence was limited.
President Asif Zardari has resisted calls to conduct another Pakistani investigation. He said he hoped the independent UN commission will establish the facts and circumstances of Bhutto’s death.
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