WHILE the setting up of a commission to investigate the presence and killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan has been a welcome move, the government has run into hurdles of its own making. It is another instance of the government projecting itself as a disorganised unit. Well before the commission convenes, a committee is needed to find out just how the president-prime minister combine went about creating the latest controversy that surrounds it. To begin with, the proposed commission goes contrary to the argument that warned the government against involving sitting members of the judiciary in the affair. The opposition parties complain they were not consulted on the matter. The judge who has been asked to head the commission says he can only do so with the approval, that has yet to be obtained, of the chief justice. And a very respectable lawyer, Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim, maintains he was not informed before his nomination to the commission. A few unidentified official sources have been heard telling the media that the opposition was consulted and it was the opposition leader in the National Assembly who had proposed Mr Ebrahim's name. These explanations are, however, drowned in a chorus of protests and allegations at a time when, in the wake of the Osama bin Laden episode, people are sensing an opportunity to discover territory they have long been denied a view of.

There are accusations the Gilani set-up has deliberately made the commission controversial to delay the probe. If this is the problem, experience tells us the present government can be brought round to accepting a popular demand. While the opposition should be careful not to let it degenerate into a point-scoring match, what the government should realise for its own good is that it doesn't quite have the time to indulge in a game of hide-and-seek. It may deride the opposition for its 'blackmailing' tactics but the government should be careful not to isolate itself by appearing to block a genuine thrust by the people. The only course for it is to quickly reconstitute the Abbottabad commission and move ahead.