ISLAMABAD, Sep. 11 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan said on Tuesday that a commission, which was mandated to ascertain the facts about the presence of Osama bin Laden in the country and probe the U.S. unilateral raid that killed the al-Qaida chief, will finalize its report in a month.
The commission was constituted two weeks after the Pakistani parliament approved a unanimous resolution, demanding that an independent commission investigate the May 2 U.S. incursion.
"The Law and Justice Division issued a notification on September 11, 2012 according to which the Abbottabad Commission shall complete the inquiry and submit its report to the Federal Government within thirty days commencing from the September 12, 2012," an official statement said on Tuesday.
The statement added that the Abbottabad commission was tasked with ascertaining the full fact regarding the presence of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan; investigating circumstances and facts regarding the U.S. operation in Abbottabad on May 2, 2011; determining the nature, background and causes of lapses of authorities concerned; and making consequential recommendations.
"The commission held thorough investigations, examined witnesses and also conducted field missions and its report was much awaited," it said. The Federal Government has now issued a formal notification and gave a deadline to the Commission to complete the inquiry and submit its report within thirty days, the government's statement said.
The five-member commission was headed by Justice Javed Iqbal, a former Supreme Court judge, and its other members included a retired lieutenant general, a former Supreme Court judge, a former police chief and a former ambassador.
The U.S. unilateral action to kill Osama bin Laden had sparked a widespread protest across the country as the country's radar system could not detect movement of the U.S. military helicopters, which conducted some 40-minute operation in the garrison city of Abbottabad.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who traveled to Islamabad weeks after Osama's killing on an unscheduled visit, had pushed Pakistan for investigation into the whole Osama episode.
The whole world and Pakistanis are waiting an independent inquiry about how Osama bin Laden stayed for five years in the Pakistani city and how the law enforcement agencies had failed to know about his whereabouts.
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