ISLAMABAD — Pakistan's new commission into how Osama bin Laden lived
in the country undetected for so long ran into trouble Thursday as one
appointee refused to take part and the political opposition criticised
it.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani announced Tuesday that an
independent commission would investigate the circumstances of the
Al-Qaeda chief's presence in Abbottabad, where he was shot dead by US
Navy SEALs in a covert operation.
The revelation that the world's
most-wanted man lived in a garrison city just a stone's throw from a
top military academy raised questions about complicity or incompetence
within the Pakistani security services.
Gilani's office said the
five-member commission would be headed by senior supreme court judge
Javed Iqbal and was mandated "to ascertain the full facts regarding the
presence of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan".
However, former supreme
court judge Fakhruddin Ebrahim told AFP on Thursday that he had written
to the prime minister refusing to sit on the panel.
"I was not
consulted before my name was included in the commission and the
government did not follow the procedure prescribed in the parliament's
resolution," he said.
"They will have to reconstitute it," he added.
Parliament
on May 14 adopted a resolution saying the composition of the commission
would be settled after consultations between the leader of the house
and the leader of the opposition, he said.
Talking to AFP,
Farhatullah Babar, spokesman for President Asif Ali Zardari said
Ebrahim's decision was a "surprise" and reserved further comment
pending consultation with the law ministry.
The main opposition
leader Nawaz Sharif also criticised the government on Thursday over the
commission, saying he had not been consulted.
"The commission set
up without consultations was meaningless. It collapsed before it could
be formed. What was the use of a commission set up unilaterally?" he
told reporters.
The naming of the much-awaited panel came amid
demands from lawmakers in Washington and Islamabad for disclosure on
the bin Laden affair after the episode threw already tense ties between
the allies into turmoil.
Pakistan has suffered a wave of fresh
attacks this month, with the country's main Taliban faction claiming
hits on domestic and American targets to avenge bin Laden's killing. AFP
