UN's Bhutto Commission to arrive in Pakistan today

The three-member UN Commission of Inquiry set up to probe into the facts and circumstances of the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is expected to arrive in Islamabad on Wednesday.

The three-member UN Commission of Inquiry set up to probe into the facts and circumstances of the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is expected to arrive in Islamabad on Wednesday.

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This will be the first visit to the country by the commission, which will establish the facts and circumstances of the assassination. The panel, led by Chile's UN Ambassador Heraldo Munoz, began its activities on July 1.

A team of UN security officials recently visited the site in Rawalpindi where Bhutto was killed in a gun and bomb attack in December 2007 to assess arrangements made for the visit by the inquiry commission.

UN spokesperson Marie Okabe on Tuesday said the commission is due to arrive in Islamabad 'within the next few days'. Its mandate, agreed to in consultation with the Pakistan government, is to determine the facts and circumstances of the assassination, she said.

The mandate does not include the conduct of a criminal investigation and the responsibility for any criminal investigation and the prosecution of perpetrators remains with Pakistani authorities, Okabe added.