Pakistan to speed up Bhutto murder inquiry after UN report (Roundup)

Apr 16, 2010, 14:30 GMT

Islamabad - Pakistan vowed Friday to speed up the criminal investigation into the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto after a UN report criticized the previous government for failing to protect her despite publicly known threats.

A UN investigative report released in New York Thursday said Bhutto's death in a gun and suicide attack on December 27, 2007, during an election rally could have been prevented if the government of former military ruler Pervez Musharraf had put in place adequate security measures.

Farhatullah Babar, a spokesman for Bhutto's widower, President Asif Ali Zardari, expressed satisfaction with the findings of the three-member commission, headed by Chile's UN Ambassador Heraldo Munoz.

'The report has given a direction to the investigation that is being done by the government, and its pace would be further hastened,' Babar was quoted as saying by the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan news agency.

Babar said the report clearly placed responsibility on the previous government of Musharraf and 'exonerated President Asif Ali Zardari and the family.'

The statement came as the pressure from Bhutto's close aides is mounting on Zardari's government to bring her killers to justice.

'Since the UN had a limited mandate of only determining the circumstances of Benazir Bhutto's murder, it's the responsibility of the government to carry out a criminal investigation into her martyrdom and bring the culprits to justice,' said Safdar Abbasi, a senator from the ruling Pakistan People's Party.

'We have heard that the investigation is taking place, but where are these taking place and by whom? The public wants to know,' Abbasi said, demanding the formation of a 'credible body' that could track down Bhutto's killers.

Abbasi's wife, Naheed Khan, a close aide to Bhutto in whose lap the former premier died, repeated the demand, saying apprehending the culprits was a moral obligation of Zardari's government.

The 65-page UN report found that the federal and regional government in Punjab province failed to take necessary measures to respond to 'the extraordinary, fresh and urgent security risks' Bhutto was facing.

'A range of government officials failed profoundly in their efforts first to protect Ms Bhutto and second to investigate with vigour all those responsible for her murder, not only in the execution of the attack, but also in its conception, planning and financing,' the report said.

The commission said a 15-year-old suicide bomber was identified as having killed Bhutto, but no serious efforts were made to track down the mastermind among the various threat sources, including al-Qaeda, the Taliban, local jihadist groups and 'elements in the Pakistani establishment.'

Musharraf's spokesman rejected the report's findings. The UN report was 'preposterous, ridiculous and a lie,' Rashid Qureshi said.

The UN panel also criticized Pakistan's intelligence agencies, particularly the military's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence, for their uncooperative behaviour in the criminal investigation mainly headed by the Punjab police.

'The autonomy, pervasive reach and clandestine role of intelligence agencies in Pakistani life underlie many of the problems, omissions and commissions set out in this report,' it said.

The commission urged Pakistan to carry out reforms in the Pakistani police as well as its intelligence agencies and to conduct a credible criminal investigation into Bhutto's killing to 'bring those responsible to justice.'

Zardari requested the UN investigation after he replaced Musharraf in 2008. The panel started its work around a year later in 2009 and interviewed dozens of people, including both Zardari and Musharraf.