UN chief ‘working hard’ to constitute Bhutto probe

NEW YORK - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says he hopes to soon constitute a commission to probe the assassination of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

‘We are looking for a third member for the commission. Unfortunately, we have not been able to find an appropriate person,’ Ban said Tuesday at his monthly press conference here.

‘I am working hard to establish the enquiry commission as soon as possible,’ he added.

The three-member commission will be headed by Chile’s UN envoy Heraldo Munoz. It includes former Indonesian attorney general Marzuki Darusman.

The probe is expected to cost Rs.200 million (approx $2.4 million), reports in the Pakistani media have said.

A six-member UN team had visited Pakistan in April to lay the ground for the probe into Bhutto’s assassination Dec 27, 2007 in a gun and bomb attack as she left a political rally in the garrison town of Rawalpindi, adjacent to capital Islamabad.

Mark Quarterman, a senior legal officer in the office of the UN legal counsel, headed the team. He has previously assisted the commission that investigated the killing of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.

Pakistan had earlier this year sought a UN probe into Bhuttto’s killing after its own investigations and one by Scotland Yard failed to make headway.

This is largely because the spot where Bhutto was killed was hosed down soon after, destroying whatever evidence that could have been gathered.

Baitullah Mehsud, who leads the Pakistani Taliban, is among those suspected of having a hand in Bhutto’s killing.