Daily Times

The government of Pakistan by a notification dated December 26, 1971 appointed a Commission of Inquiry to go into the events leading to the dismemberment of Pakistan in 1971. The commission, headed by Justice Hamood-ur-Rehman, Chief Justice of Pakistan, submitted its reports but their publication was withheld. When an Indian journal published extracts from the report, government declassified major portions of the report and then published it.

In 2005, an earthquake took place in Pakistan. Three buildings of Margalla Towers collapsed in minutes. We filed a pro bono petition in the Supreme Court for compensation for its occupants. After exhaustive hearings the court ordered a substantial amount of compensation. This judgment is frequently relied upon by lawyers in Pakistan and India. Government had appointed a commission headed by General Farooq to go into the aftereffects of the earthquake and violations of building laws. A comprehensive report was submitted to government, which was withheld due to the pressure of interested parties. It is high time that the report is published.

On the night of May 2, 2011, a US mission in four helicopters traversed Pakistani airspace for over an hour and landed at Abbottabad. They assassinated Osama bin Laden, took his body and claimed to have dumped it in the Indian Ocean. The aggressors were in Abbottabad for about 35 minutes and Pakistani forces could have apprehended them for violation of its territorial integrity and sovereignty and acting in violation of the UN Charter and international law. However, in view of the likely strong action by the sole superpower, no action was taken.

On May 20, 2011, a joint resolution was adopted by the National Assembly and Senate to hold a detailed probe into the incident. Eventually a commission was appointed, headed by Justice (Retd) Javed Iqbal. The commission noted that there were frequently expressed apprehensions that its report and recommendations would be ignored or even suppressed. However, on or about January 2013, the commission presented to the government its final report together with the dissenting note of Ashraf Javed Qazi. Both have not been made public. In the meantime, Al Jazeera published the (first draft) report without the dissenting note.

It seems that in view of strained relations the Americans did not share with Pakistan the reports about the movements of Osama bin Laden, perhaps due to the election of President Barack Obama for the second term and Leon Panetta’s pride and prejudice. Despite distrust and disagreement, workable arrangements for the arrest, detention and trial of bin Laden could have been made.

It appears the American attack was well planned. The rapidity with which it was carried out to some extent perhaps resembles ‘Operation Entebbe’. On June 27, 1976, an Air France plane with 248 passengers was hijacked, allegedly by Palestinian revolutionaries, and flown to Entebbe near Kampala. The Israeli defence forces organised a rescue mission on July 4, 1976. The operation lasted about 90 minutes, 102 hostages were rescued, five Israeli commandos were wounded and one commander, Netanyahu, was killed. All the hijackers, three hostages and 45 Ugandan soldiers were killed. The matter was debated in the Security Council but the opinion was divided. Though Israel had committed aggression against Uganda and used excessive force, its actions were not condemned.

It is unnecessary to go into the allegation of incompetence, negligence and irresponsibility until the final report and dissenting note are studied. Suffice it to refer to the views of the important personalities as noted by the commission.

Then Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani asked rhetorically: “Who gave the six-year visa to Osama bin Laden and was it a state within a state?” The Foreign Minister of Pakistan said: “Pakistan is an accident-prone country where every five years or so, similar incidents like May 2 have tended to occur. There was no doubt that the presence of OBL in Pakistan for almost a decade was an embarrassing fact as was the fact that his wives had received treatment in government hospitals.” Pakistan has been much too occupied with what has been happening in the world instead of paying sufficient attention to what was happening at home. The Foreign Minister said that Pakistan was in fact viewed in an unfavourable way in the international community. Policy errors had left Pakistan less respected. Commenting on the public perceptions, an air chief marshal said that the people were generally uninformed and did not know much about the important events in Pakistan. Pakistanis were emotional people and the truth was always different from public perception and opinion. It was not the job of PAF or the Armed Forces to go to the public of Pakistan on such matters since this is the responsibility of the political leadership.

When the conclusion of the commission or the dissenting opinion is published, further comments will be made.

(Concluded)

The writer is a Senior Advocate