Abbottabad Commission to complete recording of evidences by December end

[Saifullah Sani]

ISLAMABAD, Dec 8 (APP): The Abbottabad Commission, constituted to probe killing of Osama Bin Laden on May 2, this year, would complete recording of evidences by the end of December and compile its report as early as possible. Addressing a crowded press conference here at Press Information Department (PID) on Thursday, Head of the Commission, Justice (Retd) Javed Iqbal said,”We will strongly recommend that the Commission’s report be made public.”
Flanked by Members of the Commission, Jehangir Ashraf Qazi and Lt.Gen. (Retd) Nadeem Ahmed, Justice Javed Iqbal said the Report would be comprehensive, specific and relevant to the challenges confronting the country, which provided the context leading to this tragic national policy failure.
He said it was five months since the Commission began recording evidence within the framework of its mandate.
“In more than 20 sessions, the Commission has examined more than 100 witnesses including army and air force officials, police and intelligence officials, the surviving members of OBL’s family, the surviving members of the two Pakistani brothers who were protecting OBL, Secretaries of government ministries, concerned civilian officials in Islamabad and local officials, notables, neighbours, media people and military and intelligence personnel of the Abbottabad area,” he added.
He informed that the Commission had conducted five field missions and met with the locals of Torghar town and also visited Kala Dhaka.
Justice Javed Iqbal said that the Commission intended to meet with concerned Ministers, Parliamentary Committees and if necessary, the highest officials of the land.
“It also intends to meet with a range of people from civil society including political leaders or their representatives former Foreign Ministers, Foreign Secretaries, Ambassadors, other former Ministers and Secretaries, former military and intelligence chiefs, distinguished lawyers and legal experts, mediapersons, commentators, scholars and social activists,” he added.
He said the purpose of meeting with such eminent and relevant persons was to benefit from their views and suggestions with regard to the scope and content of the Commission report, in consistent with the mandate of the Commission.
These meetings would be conducted confidentially to encourage the invitees to speak and advise with the utmost candour and with maximum specificity, instead of confining themselves to general statements, he added.
While the Commission will decide upon the content of its report it will benefit from the widest possible range of public input and from maximizing public ownership of the process whereby the Commission will reach its findings and recommendations, he said.
The Head of the Commission said that the Report would cover the domestic, bilateral Pak-US, and international context in which the incident of May 2 occurred.
“It will detail internal and external developments in the run up to the incident, the sequence of events from the commencement of Operation Neptune Spear to its completion and exit of its operational personnel from Pakistan territory, the precise conduct of the US raiding and assassination operation at the OBL compound and assess the responses of all concerned Pakistani civil, intelligence and military institutions and personnel including their leadership,” he added.
He said the Commission Report would seek to provide answers or information and best possible surmises with regard to a whole range of outstanding questions regarding Abbottabad incident.
“The Commission Report in accordance with its mandate, especially regarding lesions, findings and recommendations to avert any future repetition of such humiliating and outrageous incidents and developments, will look at both the micro and macro picture, it will examine errors, lapses, faults and shortcomings at all levels; personal, institutional and leadership, “ he added.
He said this would range from the local ground level to command and control performance, response coordination and information sharing, the legal and constitutional status of the exercise of authority and jurisdiction, the military and intelligence role in national policy formulation, the role of parliament and parliamentary committees in policy formulation, review and oversight, and the environment and culture and national governance and policy making, especially with regard to national security issues.
In short, the Commission will examine the extent to which systemic dysfunctionality, including the lack of policy planning and democratically approved frameworks of national policy with appropriate implementation, oversight and review mechanisms, etc were responsible for the May 2 incident - as well as the several serious developments preceding and following it, he added.
He said in the light of its findings and analyses the Commission would make a series of specific recommendations which it was trusted the government, the parliament and civil and political society would discuss and implement in order to secure the future of Pakistan.
Responding to a question, he said all were equal before the Commission and it could summon any individual if necessary.
He said it was the government which would decide to publish or not publish this report, but opined that the government would like to publish this report in view of present circumstances.
To yet another query, he said that the Commission wanted to call former US Ambassador Hussain Haqqani to present before it to explain some issues related to visa issuance.
He said that the Commissions has already questioned and recorded the statements of the surviving family members of Osama Bin Laden.
Justice ® Javed Iqbal said that Sheikh Rashid had himself offered to record his statement before the Commission and informed that PML(N) Leader Khawja Asif would appear before the Commission on December 14.
He admitted that some members of the Commission received threats from unknown people but made it clear that the Commission would continue its work without any fear.
Associated Press Of Pakistan ( Pakistan's Premier NEWS Agency )

 

[H2O3C4Nitrogen]

After hinting that it was not OBL who might have died/captured in the Raid , the findings of this commission have raised the stakes . . . . . !!!

 

[H2O3C4Nitrogen]

Osama bin Laden 'was not in charge of al-Qaeda at time of raid'

Osama bin Laden had no role in operations in al-Qaeda at the time of the raid that resulted in his death, a US expert who reviewed retrieved documents has claimed.

The expert, who asked not to be named, said the 200 pieces of evidence – notebooks, files, computers and USB drives – recovered by the US commandos who staged the raid in which he died, showed "it had been quite a while since he was involved in the day-to-day management of the organisation."

"The writings we recovered are mostly general position papers, along the lines of 'We must continue to attack the US' or 'Can the Somali Shebab be trusted?" the source said.

"In one small blue notebook from February 2010, he wonders if one member should be promoted, who should be named to replace another killed in a drone raid. But nothing about operational management of the organisation," the source added.

About a third of the items confiscated were about personal family matters including efforts by one of his wives to find a husband for one of their daughters, the source added.

"In any event, for security reasons, he only received messages one or two times a month. How can you run a network in those conditions?" the expert said.

US Navy SEALs killed Bin Laden on May 2 in a raid on a compound in the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad, north of the capital Islamabad, and later buried the 9/11 mastermind at sea.

Osama bin Laden 'was not in charge of al-Qaeda at time of raid' - Telegraph