UNITED NATIONS, July 11: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has agreed in principle to establish an international inquiry commission to investigate the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, according to Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

“Responding positively to the issue, the secretary-general indicated that further consultation with Pakistan and others within the organisation would be required to examine the modalities and structure of a commission to determine the circumstances of, and responsibilities for, the assassination of the former prime minister Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto,” Mr Qureshi said at a press conference here on Thursday.

He said: “The objectives are for the commission to identify the culprits, perpetrators, organisers and financiers of the assassination.”

The secretary-general would appoint “well-respected, eminent people” to the commission in consultations with the government of Pakistan.

The secretary-general’s office later confirmed the decision and announced: Broad understanding has been reached on the following issues -- the nature of proposed commission, funding modalities, composition of the commission, unhindered access to all sources of relevant information and elements to safeguard the objectivity, impartiality and independence of the commission.

“We have reached an understanding and there is a concrete decision on that,” Mr Qureshi said, adding that further consultations were required on the modalities.

Responding to a question, he said the commission would report to the government of Pakistan and also to the UN secretary-general.Mr Qureshi said he believed the secretary-general had authority without the UN Security Council’s approval to set up a commission to try to identify the culprits in Ms Bhutto’s assassination as quickly as possible. “There is no need to refer the request to the Security Council, he said.

But he also said that some council members he had spoken with supported establishment of the commission. Indeed, US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said his government would support the request for UN probe.

“The broad understanding is going to be that it should be done in the shortest possible time, so that we do not want it sort of a lingering thing, going on for years,” the minister said when asked about the timeframe for completion of the investigation.

“We would like to finish it as soon as possible, within a year.”

Mr Qureshi said Pakistan would extend help to the commission as much as possible. “We have said that we will give unhindered access to sources of relevant information,” he said.