'Abbottabad Commission report to become public in a few weeks'

KARACHI: Justice (Retd.) Javed Iqbal has said that the Abbottabad Commission report will be made public in a few weeks.

Addressing the media at the Press Information Department (PID) in Islamabad, Justice Iqbal said that the report will complete its investigation in one month.

Justice Iqbal said presence of CIA in Pakistan is also being investigated, adding that it will be mentioned in the report.

To a question he said that the commission received threats but continued its work.

To another question by a journalist as to whether the person killed in the compound in Abbottabad was Osama bin Laden, Justice Javed Iqbal said, “If we tell you that what’s left,” adding, “You’ll find out soon.”

About President Asif Zardari he said that the president has impunity if summoned by the commission.

Justice (Retd.) Javed Iqbal said, Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed (Chief of Awami Muslim League and former Railways Minister) will be summoned before the commission on December 13 adding that Khawaja Asif (PML-N leader) will also be summoned by the commission on December 14.

The commission on Monday summoned the country’s former US ambassador Hussain Haqqani, who resigned this month, to appear before it also on December 14.

Haqqani resigned this month after a Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz said he had been asked by Haqqani to deliver a memo to former US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen from President Asif Ali Zardari, seeking US help against a military coup after Osama bin Laden's death. Haqqani was summoned by Prime Minister Gilani and is now being investigated about the memo.

Wajid Shamsul Hassan (Pakistan's High Commissioner in London) will also be called to appear before the commission, he said.

Replying to another question about illegal presence of foreigners in the country, the justice said, it is the work of the interior ministry to find out who is entering the country illegally.

The commission is probing the May 2 incident in Abbottabad which involved a US Special Forces' raid on a house in which Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed and his presence in the country.

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had formed a five-member inquiry commission to investigate the US raid and bin Laden's presence in the country. Justice (Retd.) Javed Iqbal is heading the commission.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2011