The United Nations commission investigating into the assassination of former Prime Minister Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto will visit London and Washington within the next couple of weeks to carry forward its work to identify the facts and circumstances behind the December 2007 tragedy, according to informed sources.
The three-member commission, led by Chile's UN Ambassador Heraldo Munoz, paid a visit in July to Pakistan where it called on President Asif Ali Zardari and held talks with other government leaders and officials. The commission left behind its seven experts to conduct the investigation. Recently they visited Rawalpindi's Liaquat Bagh where Benazir Bhutto was martyred.
The sources said that in London the commission would visit the headquarters of Scotland Yard, whose investigators submitted a report in February after a 2-1/2 week investigation of Bhutto's assassination. The British experts said that Benazir Bhutto was killed by the force of a suicide bomb and not by bullet, a conclusion that was greeted with disbelief by her supporters, other Pakistanis and medical experts.
After PPP came to power, it turned to the United Nations for investigation. The commission will also seek interview with former President Pervez Musharraf, who is currently residing in London. The commission is known to believe that its work will be incomplete without interviewing the principal and perhaps the most authoritative personality in Pakistan when Benazir Bhutto was murdered. The commission will also interview in London Nahid Khan, a close associate of the PPP leader.
In Washington, the commission will also meet officials of various intelligence agencies. In addition, the commission will interview CNN's Wolf Blitzer, who reportedly received an e-mail through Benazir Bhutto's confidant in Washington, Mark Siegal, saying if anything happened to her she would hold Musharraf "responsible" because his government did not do enough to provide for her security.
The commission will also speak to Siegal, a long-time spokesman for Benazir Bhutto. The Commission, which began its work on July 1, will submit a report to secretary-general Ban ki-moon within six months. Ban will then share the report with the Government, and submit it to the Security Council for information.