Abbottabad Commission wants Osama-related inquiry report to be made public

Former Pakistan Supreme Court judge Mr.Justice Javed Iqbal, who headed the Abbottabad Commission set up to conduct a probe after Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was found and eliminated in a covert operation by American troopers, has called for the inquiry report to be made public and have its recommendations implemented.

"Unfortunately, a routine has been made to establish commissions after every incident and then put the findings of the report on the shelf, due to which, there is an impression that commissions are made to pass time so that the public would forget the incident. The report of the Abbottabad Commission must [also] be lying on some shelf," the Dawn quoted the former Supreme Court judge, as saying at a Senate meeting chaired by PPP Senator Rehman Malik.

Talking to the media after the meeting, Justice Iqbal said the report focused on identifying the people responsible for the incident. He said that personalities responsible for the incident had been identified in the report and actions had been suggested.

However, if necessary, some of its parts can be left classified, he added.

"As I am under oath, I cannot reveal the names of those persons. Only the government can reveal the names," he said.

After Bin Laden was reportedly killed by the American forces in a surgical strike on a house in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on May 2, 2011, questions surfaced as to whether he was deliberately kept in Abbottabad near a training centre of the armed forces.

The Pakistan government then formed a commission to hold an inquiry into the incident. Other members of the inquiry commission were Abbas Khan, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi and retired Lt. Gen. Nadeem Ahmed.

Though the inquiry was completed three years ago, the report was never made public. One version of the report - spread over almost 700 pages and containing interviews of some 300 people as well as over 100 recommendations - was leaked by an international media group in 2013.

In July 2013, Qazi informed the Senate Committee on Defence (SCD) that the leaked inquiry report was the first draft and not the final version submitted to the prime minister.

The final copy is said to be a watered-down version of the leaked draft that was highly critical of the armed forces, particularly the Inter-Services Intelligence, not only for its failures, but also for stymieing the growth of civilian intelligence organisations.

The final report comes with a 40-page strongly-worded note of dissent by Qazi and Justice Iqbal's observations on the note.