Extension to inquiry commission probing Benazir murder on ‘technical’ grounds:UN

NEW YORK - The United Nation (UN) has rejected reports that it had delayed the publication of its committee probing the former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s assassination on President Asif Ali Zardari’s request.

Denying any interference from Zardari, a top UN official said the extension in duration of the inquiry committee was given purely on ‘technical’ grounds.

“No individual or any government can meddle with the affairs of UN commissions,” The News quoted the official, as saying.

The report, which was scheduled to be published on Tuesday (March 30), is now likely to be made public on April 15.

Earlier, Presidential spokesperson Farhatullah Babar had said the report from two countries who had warned Benazir about security threats upon her return to Pakistan is still pending, and this was the prime reason why the UN was requested to postpone the publication of the inquiry report.

“There were three countries that had cautioned Mohtarma soon after her return to Pakistan. The inquiry report of one of these countries is completed but those of the other two are pending. We believe that the UN Commission’s report would be incomplete without incorporating the viewpoints of all of these three states,” Babar said and declined to comment further. (ANI)