Islamabad, July 07 A Pakistani commission investigating how Osama bin Laden lived undetected for years in the country has ordered the government not to repatriate his surviving family without its consent.
Pakistan took custody of the al-Qaeda leader’s two Saudi and one Yemeni widows and around 10 of their children, after US Navy Seals killed him and flew off with his body from the army town of Abbottabad on May 2.
Pakistan has given CIA agents access to the wives but the commission’s move is likely to delay their departure, after an official recently confirmed to AFP that the youngest widow, Amal Abdulfattah, could return to Yemen within days.
“The ministry of interior and ISI have been directed to ensure that the family of Osama Bin Laden is not repatriated from Pakistan without the consent of the commission,” the commission said.
The four-member panel, chaired by a supreme court judge, has the authority to summon anyone and a security official told AFP that bin Laden’s family would be no exception. There is no timeline for it to complete its investigation. They will go back eventually but perhaps until such time that investigations are complete, they would want to talk to them as well,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
–Agencies