Re: UN ready to probe BB Assasination
S.T.
If we believe the French…this may be the case
http://thenews.jang.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=12103
France tells PPP UN probe not possible
By Rauf Klasra
ISLAMABAD: The French government is said to have told the PPP leadership it was not possible to get the murder of Benazir Bhutto investigated by a UN commission, arguing that the other four permanent members of the Security Council might not consider the case fit for an international probe on the pattern of Hariri commission.
The PPPP leadership had pinned high hopes on support from France, one of the five permanent members of the Security Council besides the US, Britain, Russia and China. The visiting French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, who met the PPP leaders in Islamabad the other day to offer condolences on the death of Benazir Bhutto, told them that the** UN Security Council could send any commission only if two countries were involved in a serious dispute over a political assassination**, as was the case between Lebanon and Syria when the former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri was shot dead and Beirut suspected Damascus’ involvement in the attack.
The PPP delegation was told that the murder of Benazir Bhutto was an internal issue of Pakistan and the Security Council might not be convinced to interfere in the internal affairs of a country. Kouchner told the delegation that it might not be possible for the five permanent members of the Security Council to constitute the Hariri-type commission.
Earlier, a PPP delegation headed by Senator Enwar Baig met the French foreign minister. The delegation comprised Senator Latif Khosa, Qasim Zia, and Shahnaz Wazir Ali. Sources said the PPP delegation requested France to use its influence to get Security Council’s approval for Hariri-type commission to probe Benazir’s murder. Kouchner politely argued that there were certain factors, which justified UN involvement in Hariri’s murder probe. First, he explained, Lebanon had accused the Syrians of involvement in the murder, so it came under the jurisdiction of the UN Security Council to intervene. Secondly, the government of Lebanon itself had made a request to the UNO to form a probe committee.
The situation in case of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination is quite different, as it was an internal issue of Pakistan and secondly, the government of Pakistan has not requested the UN Security Council for investigation.
When ‘The News’ contacted Senator Anwar Baig he refused to make any comment on his meeting with the French foreign minister. However, Senator Latif Khosa said they pleaded that Ms Bhutto’s murder should be probed by the UN as it was a fit case for the UN involvement.
Senator Khosa confirmed that the French foreign minister was of the view that the UN body might not be in a position to form a Hariri-type commission to probe Ms Bhutto’s murder. But, Khosa said, we tried to explain to the visiting dignitary that as the government of Pakistan itself had claimed that Al-Qaida was involved in the murder of Benazir Bhutto, so it was no more an internal issue of Pakistan. He said the PPP delegation requested the French government to use its influence to involve the Security Council to ensure independent probe.