Karachi, May 03; We, the Democracy Assessment Group, urge the Government to make a comprehensive statement, without further delay, on the facts and circumstances that have led to the killing of Osama Bin Laden and others on our sovereign soil by the armed forces of the United States of America.

We urge the Parliament to immediately constitute a joint Parliamentary commission to investigate all aspects of this event which has caused world-wide adverse comments on our complicity or our incompetence or a bit of both in regard to the presence of Osama Bin Laden on our soil.

We call upon the newly-constituted Federal Cabinet to take up this matter as its first order of business at the next Cabinet meeting.

We hope that the new Coalition government will urgently take steps to improve the standards of governance in critical areas including endemic corruption, spiraling prices, chronic unemployment and deteriorating law and order. The national need is to nurture and promote democracy which will only be possible if these problems are addressed with dedication and commitment.

Members of the Democracy Assessment Group who joined the meeting included Mr. Ilahi Buksh Soomro, Former Speaker, National Assembly of Pakistan, Mr. Cyril Almieda, Assistant Editor, Dawn, Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Moinuddin Haider, Former Federal Minister for Interior; former Governor Sindh; Mr. Mujib ur Rehman Shami, Editor in Chief Daily Pakistan, Mr. Omar Khan Afridi, Former Federal Minister, Dr. Parvez Hassan, renowned Lawyer; Sardar Khalid Ibrahim, Advocate, Mr. Shahid Hamid, Senior Advocate Supreme Court; former Governor Punjab; former Federal Minister, Lt. Gen (Retd.) Talat Masood, Defence Analyst; former Federal Secretary Defence Production, Mr. Wazir Ahmed Jogezai, former Deputy Speaker National Assembly of Pakistan, Senator S. M. Zafar, former Federal Minister, who joined the meeting on special invitation, Mr. Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, Executive Director and Ms. Aasiya Riaz, Joint Director of PILDAT.

The Democracy Assessment Group is convened by PILDAT to assess the quality of democracy in Pakistan on a periodic basis. The Group presented a report on the Mid-Term Assessment of the Quality of Democracy in Pakistan in September 2010 using an international framework.