IT was only a matter of time before the Osama bin Laden raid, the stuff of spy thrillers itself, became a hot topic for ambitious journalists, publishers and filmmakers out to embellish their careers and capitalise on public interest in one of the most important events of the decade. A series of representations of the event are already completed or in the works — from a New Yorker article to books by security analysts and a Navy SEAL involved in the raid to a film that is soon to be released. The creators of these projects haven’t wasted a moment in exploring what happened, how and when, and yet, well over a year after it was formed, the so-called Abbottabad commission has yet to reveal the fruits of its extended investigation.

The commission has interviewed hundreds of people, visited key sites several times and spent months presumably mulling over the various sensitivities and egos it will have to protect and the political balancing act it will have to strike in any report. The bungalow has been razed and even US-Pakistan relations are making their way back to a functional place. In December last year the commission had said it would reveal all that month. And still no report, and for no clear reason. The delay is long and unexplained, which perhaps should come as no surprise given Pakistan’s history of investigations into sensitive events. And now, if one source is to be believed, the commission feels it needs to go through the books recently released on the subject. Given the pace at which it is moving, that should add at least another few months to the delay. Perhaps the commission can just use the books for a copy-paste job, and finally get it over with.