LAHORE: Investigations into Benazir Bhutto murder case are in final stages, and the United Nations (UN) probe commission will release its report by March or April next year, claims Dr Qayyum Soomro, a close aide of President Asif Ali Zardari.

‘The forces the report will point out to be involved in the incident will be made public,’ he said while speaking at a luncheon hosted by Shabina Riaz Sheikh, chairperson of the Punjab Assembly’s standing committee on social welfare and women’s development, here on Friday.

He said the probe was assigned to the UN to avert allegations that the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government had used influence and arms twisting as a tool on local investigators to get a report of its liking.

Soomro responded in the affirmative when asked if the government would allow access to former president Pervez Musharraf if desired by the UN commission.

Predicting another meeting between President Zardari and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif in the near future, he claimed that positive results of the earlier one would be visible soon that would strengthen the political and democratic system.

‘The next meeting between the two will settle all issues including the 17th Amendment as the parliamentary committee headed by Senator Raza Rabbani has almost accomplished its task of suggesting amendments to the Constitution.’

He told a questioner that the National Reconciliation Ordinance was no more an issue as it was going to be approved by the National Assembly.

Soomro denied that President Zardari had done anything in violation of rules and regulations. Had this been the case, the media would have exposed it. About the rental power projects, he said the government was forced to resort to the solution on an emergency basis for the previous government did not add even a single megawatt to the national grid.

He claimed that over 80 per cent loadshedding problem had been solved while President Zardari had approached China to seek technology to produce cheap power.

Similarly, he said, notwithstanding opposition from various world powers the government entered into gas pipeline project with Iran to overcome gas shortage and rescue the industrial sector from its ill-effects.

He alleged that the PPP had always been a victim of conspiracies as the party, except during late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s tenure, was never allowed to complete its term. Despite these intrigues, he said, the party gained more votes in each subsequent elections.