ISLAMABAD, Oct 27: Three professional staff members of the United State’s Independent National Commission investigating the Sept 11 terrorist attacks to draw possible linkages are currently in Pakistan but their visit has been kept under wraps, Dawn has learnt.
The commission, officially referred to as ‘National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States’ was created by Congressional legislation and under the signature of the US President George W. Bush in 2002. It has been tasked to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the Sept 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, including preparations for and the immediate response to the attacks.
The three professional staff members of the 10-member commission arrived here last week to meet officials in key government institutions and to interview individuals that they deem relevant to their inquiry.
This is the first visit by staff members of the high-profile commission to Pakistan since it was formed in late 2002.
The members of the commission have already received some official briefings in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, and have been travelling all over Pakistan.
There has been no official word about their arrival from either a government office or the US embassy in Islamabad. None of the officials Dawn contacted were willing to even talk about the visit.
The members of the commission are said to have been given full access to certain classified information, documents, institutions and individuals in different parts of the country. They have also been granted permission to go to the tribal areas.
The visit of the commission staffers assumes significance given that all the information and inputs they get from Pakistan will be attributable. It will be recorded in the commission’s final report that will be made public. It becomes even more significant coming at a time when the US government has been under fire for serious security lapses and errors by its intelligence agencies, the CIA and the FBI.
