April 17, 2008	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 10, 1429

UNITED NATIONS, April 16: The United Nations has said that it would not be able to make any statement on the question of investigation sought by the Pakistan National Assembly into the assassination of Pakistan People’s Party leader Benazir Bhutto in December last year.

“We have still not received any letter” from Islamabad, was the terse response when a UN official was asked about it on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, a US State Department official said on Tuesday that Scotland Yard’s probe answered most of the questions about Ms Bhutto’s murder but more investigation into the incident would be instrumental in achieving satisfaction of Pakistani people. The official, commenting on the Pakistan National Assembly resolution, said the United States backed the effort for answering all the questions the people of Pakistan might have.

He said that the US would wait for a UN response to this resolution, but it believed that the Scotland Yard report answered most of the questions.

The UN official made it clear that once a formal request was made by Pakistan in a letter to the secretary-general, he would send it to the Security Council which would have to vote on any inquiry commission if any. “The mandate for inquiry has to be given by the Security Council.”