Hidden report

The Abbottabad Commission is supposed to be one of the most thorough investigations ever conducted in the country. Its final report is said to include the testimony of over 300 witnesses and information from more than 3,000 official documents. The commission not only looked into the events of May 2, 2011, when US Navy SEALS killed Osama Bin Laden in an operation in Abbottabad, it also explored any possible culpability of government officials and the agencies in allowing the US to violate our sovereignty and in allowing Bin Laden to stay in the country undetected for so many years. Any questions that still hang over the saga could be answered by the report. Alas, it now looks like the report may never see the light of day. Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb, speaking to workers of the Abbottabad Electronic Media Association, said the report is not being made public for reasons of national security. Not knowing what is in the report, it is impossible to judge if her assertion is correct. But it is worth noting that Justice Javed Iqbal, who headed the commission, has called for it to be released. Yousuf Raza Gilani, who was the prime minister at the time, has also said the report should be made public. Nawaz Sharif was one of those most adamantly demanding the formation of a commission after the US raid and it is now in his power to release the report, even if certain sections have to be redacted for reasons of security.

We do have some idea of what the report may say. In 2013, the first draft of the report was leaked to Al-Jazeera and it was extremely critical of everyone involved, from the government of the day to the intelligence agencies. It is believed that the final report was significantly toned down but also included a blistering dissenting note from Ashraf Jehangir Qazi. All of that is conjecture, however, and only the release of the report can answer the many questions to which the public deserves answers. Everything from whether rogue elements knew about Bin Laden’s presence in the country to the role the then ambassador to the US, Husain Haqqani, played in allowing US spies into Pakistan can be definitively settled by the report. One wonders if the reason for keeping it secret is not to protect national security but to shelter the reputations of officials who would be embarrassed by its release. In this case, though, the public has a right to know about one of the biggest debacles in Pakistan’s history.