A UN team investigating the murder of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto arrived in Islamabad Thursday for their first working visit. They are launching their inquiry amidst conspiracy theories, power politics and conflicting agendas.

The investigation was ordered by UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, at the current Pakistani government’s request. Chilean diplomat Heraldo Munoz heads the three-man team which further consists of Peter Fitzgerald, a retired Irish police officer who headed the initial inquiry into the assassination of Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri in 2005, and the Indonesian official Marzuki Darusman.
 

The UN team’s six-month mandate is to “establish the facts and circumstances of the assassination”, including how she was killed and who is responsible for her death. But the UN stresses its mission is not to undertake a criminal investigation, as that remains the responsibility of the Pakistani authorities. The inquiry has no real legal power and its findings will not be legally binding.
 

So far the Pakistani government seems to have made little progress with its own investigation. Only a few low level suspects have been arrested, and nobody has so far stood trial. Pakistan’s civilian government is led by the Pakistani opposition leader’s widower, President Asif Zardari.
 

Bhutto, who served twice as prime minister, was killed in a shooting and bomb attack in December 2007, two months after she returned from exile to participate in Pakistan’s national elections. She was the first woman to become prime minister of a Muslim country.
 

President Pervez Musharraf’s government and the CIA initially blamed the Taliban warlord Baitullah Meshud, who has always denied being involved in the assassination. Bhutto supporters, however, dismissed the official explanation, alleging that the Pakistani military agency ISI was behind the attack. According to one conspiracy theory Zardari himself orchestrated his wife’s death. This theory is dismissed as nonsense by most analysts.
 

Before returning from exile in October 2007, Bhutto sent Musharraf a short list of powerful individuals she said should be investigated in the event of her death. She also repeatedly accused senior Pakistani intelligence and government officials of plotting to kill her. Bhutto’s accusations increased after an attack that killed 139 people in Karachi shortly after her return to Pakistan. Her party believes Pakistan’s powerful security agencies may have been involved.
 

It is unlikely that the UN team will have access to the intelligence agency’s files and few, if any intelligence officials are expected to agree to testify before the commission.
 

During the visit the three team members are scheduled to meet Zardari, Munoz and other senior officials. The commission will submit a report to Ban Ki-moon, the Pakistani government and the UN Security Council by the end of December.