Pakistan leader calls for truth commission

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Sept. 15 (UPI) -- The president of Pakistan says he wants a South African-style truth and reconciliation commission to heal the rifts caused by the country's violent past.

President Asif Ali Zardari says the proposed commission should be headed by Asma Jehangir, the country's respected human rights lawyer, the way Archbishop Desmond Tutu headed South Africa's commission, The Financial Times reported.

The Times said such a commission would have a lot to investigate. Pakistan was ruled by the late dictator, Gen. Zia ul-Haq, in the 1990s, and many activists from Zardari's Pakistan People's Party disappeared into torture chambers. Zardari himself spent years in jail, but was never convicted on corruption charges.

Zardari's wife, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, was assassinated and her killers are still at large.

A truth commission delving into Pakistan's past would likely anger the country's security establishment, which undermined elected politicians and supported militant groups, the Times said.

"The danger is that this initiative could open old wounds and renew controversies. The net result may strain relations between the military and civilian politicians," one unnamed diplomat told the Times.