[JURIST] An independent UN commission has blamed the Pakistani government and police forces for the 2007 assassination [JURIST report] of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto [BBC obituary; JURIST news archive] in its investigatory report [text, PDF] released Thursday. According to the report, the Pakistani federal government "lacked a comprehensive security plan" and failed to provide adequate security for Bhutto by relying on local officials without giving them "necessary instructions." In the report, the commission accused the government of failing to launch a proper investigation into those responsible for the attack. The report also accused the government of hindering their investigation and called their various failures "deliberate":

A range of Government officials failed profoundly in their efforts first to protect Ms. Bhutto and second to investigate with vigour all those responsible for her murder, not only in the execution of the attack, but also in its conception, planning and financing. ... The Commission believes that the failures of the police and other officials to react effectively to Ms. Bhutto's assassination were, in most cases, deliberate.