Pakistan Denies Influencing 9/11 Commission Report

Pakistan denies spending money to remove findings from 9/11 report

Pakistan yesterday rejected claims made by a former diplomat that Islamabad spent thousands of dollars through lobbyists to drop some of the negative findings about the country in the United State's 9/11 commission report.

Claims by former Pakistani diplomat Muhammad Sadiq, reported in the media, that a lot of money had been spent to 'silence' members of the inquiry commission and induce them to go 'soft' on Pakistan were baselees, foreign office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said in a statement here.

The said PAC meeting on February 28 considered the audit reports of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the period 1989-1999. During the discussions, the PAC enquired about the role of lobbyists that were engaged in Washington, the spokesperson said.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs briefed the PAC about the role of lobbyists and efforts to disseminate and project Pakistan's point of view. At no stage did anybody claim to have bribed the members of the 9/11 Commission, she said.

'Engaging lobbyists is a well-established common practice in some of the western capitals, including Washington. Pakistan has hired various lobbyists over last several decades to promote bilateral relations,' and Islamabad had never indulged in the illegal activity of bribing or buying influence anywhere in the world, she said.

Aslam's reaction followed a report in 'the Daily Times' yesterday that US media probed claims by Sadiq, stating that that Pakistan spent thousands of dollars through its lobbyists to drop some of the negative findings about Pakistan from the 9/11 Commission report.

Thanks Jon for the heads up!

We know they were involved.

We know they were involved. It makes sense that they were bribed to keep their mouths shut. Either that, or they kept their mouths shut because of Goss's, Graham's, Kyl's, and Tenet's connections to them. Either way, Pakistan's involvement was omitted, and I think this should be investigated.

clear, concise, and correct.

clear, concise, and correct.