ISLAMABAD - A UN commission appointed to investigate the assassination of Pakistan's former prime minister Benazir Bhutto began work yesterday, despite scepticism that the probe will lead to convictions.
ISLAMABAD - A UN commission appointed to investigate the assassination of Pakistan's former prime minister Benazir Bhutto began work yesterday, despite scepticism that the probe will lead to convictions.
The panel has a six-month mandate and is led by Chilean ambassador to the United Nations Heraldo Munoz.
It includes a former Indonesian attorney- general and an Irish former police officer.
Bhutto, the first woman to become prime minister of a Muslim country, was killed on December 27 2007 in a gun and suicide attack after addressing an election rally in Rawalpindi, a garrison city near the capital Islamabad.
"The six-month mandate of the Benazir Bhutto commission of inquiry began today. The commission is expected to visit Pakistan but the dates are not determined yet," Hiro Ueki, a UN spokesperson, said.
The United Nations says the panel will inquire into the facts and circumstances of the assassination, but makes clear it will be up to Pakistan to determine "the criminal responsibility of the perpetrators".
Pakistan called for a UN inquiry after Bhutto's party won a general election two months after her death, with Bhutto supporters angered by conflicting accounts of how she died and who was responsible.
They cast doubt on a Pakistani probe into her death, criticised authorities for hosing down the scene of the attack within minutes -allegedly destroying evidence - and questioning whether she was killed by a gunshot or the blast.
Then president Pervez Musharraf and the US Central Intelligence Agency blamed Baitullah Mehsud, an Al-Qaeda-linked warlord based in Pakistan's tribal region bordering Afghanistan, for masterminding the killing. - Sapa-AFP
UN probes Bhutto killing
ISLAMABAD - A UN commission appointed to investigate the assassination of Pakistan's former prime minister Benazir Bhutto began work yesterday, despite scepticism that the probe will lead to convictions.
ISLAMABAD - A UN commission appointed to investigate the assassination of Pakistan's former prime minister Benazir Bhutto began work yesterday, despite scepticism that the probe will lead to convictions.
The panel has a six-month mandate and is led by Chilean ambassador to the United Nations Heraldo Munoz.
It includes a former Indonesian attorney- general and an Irish former police officer.
Bhutto, the first woman to become prime minister of a Muslim country, was killed on December 27 2007 in a gun and suicide attack after addressing an election rally in Rawalpindi, a garrison city near the capital Islamabad.
"The six-month mandate of the Benazir Bhutto commission of inquiry began today. The commission is expected to visit Pakistan but the dates are not determined yet," Hiro Ueki, a UN spokesperson, said.
The United Nations says the panel will inquire into the facts and circumstances of the assassination, but makes clear it will be up to Pakistan to determine "the criminal responsibility of the perpetrators".
Pakistan called for a UN inquiry after Bhutto's party won a general election two months after her death, with Bhutto supporters angered by conflicting accounts of how she died and who was responsible.
They cast doubt on a Pakistani probe into her death, criticised authorities for hosing down the scene of the attack within minutes -allegedly destroying evidence - and questioning whether she was killed by a gunshot or the blast.
Then president Pervez Musharraf and the US Central Intelligence Agency blamed Baitullah Mehsud, an Al-Qaeda-linked warlord based in Pakistan's tribal region bordering Afghanistan, for masterminding the killing. - Sapa-AFP
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