The long-awaited UN "fact-finding" report has blamed the assassination of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on the federal government's "fatally insufficient and ineffective" security for her. The 65-page report released April 15 in the UN Headquarters in New York added that subsequent investigation by the federal and Punjab governments into her death were "prejudiced" and "involved a whitewash." However, the UN Commission of Inquiry, appointed last year by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the request of the Pakistani government, reached no conclusion as to the organizers and sponsors behind the attack in which a 15-year-old suicide bomber blew up Benazir's vehicle in the city of Rawalpindi on 27 December 2007.
Former military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf was ruling the country when Benazir was assassinated. The present federal government, led by the assassinated prime minister's Pakistan People's Party, will order afresh criminal investigation to reach the planners and executers of this murder.
The report found that the Pakistani government was quick to blame local Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud and Al-Qaida although Benazir´s foes potentially included elements from the establishment itself. It read: "A range of government officials failed profoundly in their efforts first to protect Benazir and second to investigate with vigour all those responsible for her murder, not only in the execution of the attack, but also in its conception, planning and financing," the Commission said. "Responsibility for Ms. Bhutto's security on the day of her assassination rested with the federal government, the (provincial) government of Punjab and the Rawalpindi District Police. None of these entities took necessary measures to respond to the extraordinary, fresh and urgent security risks that they knew she faced."
The report said the then federal government lacked a comprehensive security plan, relying instead on provincial authorities, but then failed to issue to them the necessary instructions.