Abbottabad commission runs into trouble

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)