UN: Musharraf failed to protect Benazir

The death of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto could have been prevented, according to an UN-appointed independent panel, which slammed the Musharraf government for "failure" to protect her.
"Ms. Bhutto's assassination could have been prevented," said the report by a three-member panel headed by Chile's UN ambassador Heraldo Munoz.
The report slammed the then Musharraf government for both the failure to protect Bhutto after she returned to Pakistan and later for the deliberate "failure" to investigate the murder.
The investigators stressed that besides passing on messages of the serious threats to Bhutto, no proactive measures were taken to neutralise the danger by the authorities.
"A range of government officials failed profoundly in their efforts first to protect Ms Bhutto and second to investigate with vigor all those responsible for her murder not only in the execution of the attack but also in its conception, planning and financing," Munoz said.
"The responsibility for Ms Bhutto's security on the day of the assassination rested with the federal government, the government of Punjab and the Rawalpindi district police... none of these entities took the necessary measures to respond to the extraordinary fresh and urgent security risk that they knew she faced," he said.
Bhutto, the first woman to become prime minister of a Muslim country, was killed on December 27, 2007 in a gun and suicide attack after addressing an election rally in Rawalpindi, a garrison city near the capital Islamabad.
The Munoz-led panel, which commenced on July 1, 2009, was to have submitted its report on December 31, 2009 but its term was extended for another three months. It was tasked with establishing the facts and circumstances of the slaying and was not empowered to identify culprits.
However, the report, initially scheduled for March 30, was delayed after Pakistan made a request to the panel urging it to include input from former US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Saudi Arabia.
Munoz earlier on Thursday submitted the commission's findings to UN chief Ban Ki-moon.
"The federal government failed in its primary responsibility to provide effective protection to Ms Bhutto on
her return to Pakistan," the report said.
The commission held that after the suicide attack, Bhutto was left vulnerable in a severely damaged vehicle to hospital while the backup bullet proof Mercedes departed prematurely.
There was no autopsy carried out on Bhutto in the Rawalpindi hospital on the orders of the police chief.
"The commission is persuaded that the Rawalpindi police chief did not act independently of higher authorities," said Munoz.
The Commission also questioned why the Interior Ministry ordered a "controversial" press conference, just one day after the assassination before a formal investigation.
The team concluded that the government never intended to hold genuine investigations and rushed to hush up the matter causing a crisis of confidence in the country.
In the press conference on December 28, the government had claimed that Bhutto had died from a head injury from the force of the blast and the attack had been carried out by Baitullah Mehsud, leader of the Pakistani Taliban linked with Al-Qaida who was killed by American forces in August 2009.
"The commission found that this action preempted, prejudiced and hindered the subsequent investigation," said Munoz. "The Musharraf government did not carry out an investigation as it should have been done not only at the federal level but also at the provincial level."
The investigators noted that the following unanswered questions left the Bhutto death "shrouded in mystery" - why was a crowd allowed to form around her vehicle forcing it to stop, did the gunshots or explosion kill her, why was no autopsy performed and why was the crime scene hosed down causing irreparable loss of evidence.
Referring to the single investigation of the Punjab authorities leading to the arrest of low-ranking suspect in connection with the murder, Munoz said, "The commission found that in that investigation little to no focus was placed on investigating those further up the hierarchy in the planning, financing and execution of the assassination."
"The investigations even ceased to identify the identity of the suicide bomber, verify the authenticity of Mr. Mehsud's denial of his involvement or to get who may have been behind Mr. Mehsud," he added.
Bhutto's husband Asif Ali Zardari, after becoming the president had asked the UN to carry out an independent investigation.