UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. chief said Thursday he was still considering Pakistan’s request to investigate the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon gave no timetable for making a decision, and he did not indicate whether he might refer the matter to the U.N. Security Council. A spokesperson for Ban has previously said such a referral was likely.
The request for a U.N. inquiry into Bhutto’s unsolved killing came through Pakistan’s U.N. ambassador in New York and its foreign minister in Paris, Ban said.
"We are still examining and reviewing their request to establish some commission under my authority," he told a news conference in answer to a reporter’s question. "But I have not yet (reached) any conclusion."
Bhutto died in a gun-and-suicide bomb attack on Dec. 27, while leaving an election rally in Rawalpindi. Her death stunned the world and helped carry her Pakistan People’s Party to victory in February elections.
The party now leads a coalition government that has made seeking a U.N. probe a top priority.
The previous government and the CIA quickly accused a Pakistani militant commander often blamed for suicide attacks of orchestrating the killing. Bhutto had called for Pakistan to redouble its efforts against Islamic extremism.