Pakistan parliament asks for UN probe into Bhutto assassination

Apr 14, 2008, 17:22 GMT

Islamabad - Pakistan's newly-elected parliament on Monday asked the government to request a United Nations-led investigation into the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto late last year.

'This house recommends the government to approach the UN for forming an international investigation commission, to be known as martyred madam Benazir Bhutto Commission,' said the resolution which was passed unanimously.

'The commission should seek to probe and identify the culprits, perpetrators, organizers and financiers behind this heinous crime and bring them to justice,' it added.

Bhutto was killed in a suicide attack during an election rally in the garrison city of Rawalpindi on November 27.

Her widower Asif Ali Zardari and Pakistan Peoples Party demanded the government of President Pervez Musharraf ask for a UN probe, but the president asked investigators from Britain's Scotland Yard to assist the investigations.

They concluded Bhutto was not killed by a bullet, but her head hit a lever on the roof of her armoured vehicle by the force of the suicide bombing.

Bhutto's party thrashed Musharraf's political backers in February 18 elections and formed a coalition government with other rivals of the military dictator-turned-president.