An unsavoury controversy has erupted following former Pakistan ambassador to Washington Hussain Haqqani's recent self-promotional piece for the Washington Post in which he accused "Pakistan's intelligence service or military" of harbouring sympathies for Islamist militants and breach of promises with the Obama administration, going on to claim credit for his role in helping the US station special operations and intelligence personnel on ground in Pakistan to hunt down and eliminate Osama bin Laden. Taking exception to that part of Haqqani's statement where he says the then civilian government had approved his request for visas for these people, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has demanded formation of a parliamentary commission to investigate Haqqani's claims, saying the former envoy had levelled accusations at the country's two senior most office holders, the then president Asif Ali Zardari and the then prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. The PPP along with the PTI and MQM has supported the commission proposal.
It is rather puzzling though what the aim of the investigation is considering that Haqqani has not revealed something new. For, it is no secret that the US special operations and intelligence operatives did come to Pakistan. They were involved in various scuffles with the traffic police and one Raymond Davis killed two Pakistanis he suspected were following him. A third Pakistani was overrun by another American who came to help Davis. Questions were raised at the time about the presence of those people. They could not have been here without valid visas, and scores of visas could not have been issued without the knowledge of Islamabad. The civilian government might have had its reasons to give its approval. There is no justification, however, for a former envoy of this country to malign its military in a foreign country. By the same token, does it look right for the defence minister to use Haqqani's statement to cast aspersions on the PPP leadership's intentions, with such private comments as that before coming to power Zardari had often talked about his contacts with American and British officials referring to them as his "guarantors", and to conclude that "all these statements are connected, therefore, I request ... I may be allowed to make a detailed statement on Monday, and a multi-party parliamentary commission should be formed to investigate this affair."
It is worth noting that unlike previous judicial commissions formed to investigate serious issues of national import, the minister wants to "discuss the matter threadbare and before the media, in full public view." Indeed, the people have a right to know whats and whys of policies that affect them. But the selective nature - an investigation in full public view akin to a public trial - of such a probe can cause suspicions about a possible motive. All the more so, considering that the country's history is replete with judicial commission reports on cataclysmic events that remain wrapped in secrecy. To date, no one knows the findings of the Humour Lehman Commission report on the 1971 break-up of the country, except for some bits and pieces from leaked reports in the Indian press. Neither known are the results of the probes into the 2006 killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti which triggered a raging insurgency in Balochistan, nor the assassination of two-time prime minister Benazir Bhutto. More relevant to the present context is the Abbottabad Commission report on the elimination by the US of Osama bin Laden that continues to be withheld, leaving people to make their own guesses as to why the world's most wanted terrorist could remain hidden in plain sight for eight long years. While the government is insistent on taking the PPP leadership to task before a parliamentary commission for letting in the US intelligence operatives, it is imperative that it also release the Abbottabad Commission report so the full truth of what happened in those trying times comes out.
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