The Abbottabad Commission has completed its report on the covert US military operation that led to the killing of al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad on May 2, 2011. The commission is expected to submit the 700-page report to the government during this month.
Former Justice Javed Iqbal has been heading the probe into the circumstances under which Osama was killed. Other members of the commission include: Lieutenant General Nadeem Ahmed (Retd), former inspector general of police Abbas Khan and former ambassador Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, with Cabinet Division Secretary Nargis Sethi as its secretary. The Ministry of Interior was mandated to provide secretarial support to the commission.
The report includes written statements and statements under oaths from high-ranking civil and military officials as well as statements from the members of Osama's family. The statements reportedly affirm that the al Qaeda chief was present in the compound at the time of the operation. Moreover, the commission also states some 200 recommendations for the government.
The commission has kept parts of the report as classified and it would be left to the government's discretion as to whether or not those sections may be made public. Two members of the commission have signed the report but Abbas Khan, who is currently abroad for medical treatment, has yet to sign it. Furthermore, an important meeting of the commission is expected next week.
The terms of reference of the commission constituted in June 2011 were: (a) to ascertain full facts regarding the presence of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan; (b) investigate circumstances and facts regarding the US operation in Abbottabad on 2nd May, 2011; (c) determine the nature, background and causes of lapses of authorities concerned, if any; and (d) make consequential recommendations.