In a letter delivered to Pakistan's permanent mission to the United Nations, the UN chief “reiterated his strong support for the commission and stated that the commission carried out its work professionally in fulfilment of the Terms of Reference agreed between the government of Pakistan and the secretariat and noted by the Security Council”.

The UN Chief said “the report speaks for itself and can be helpful to any subsequent investigations”.

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had questioned the “credibility and reliability” of the report and said that “the lack of source attribution leads to vagueness and ambiguity in some parts of the report which has undermined its credibility as a fact-finding report”.

Mr Ban asserted in the letter that “the terms of reference of the commission called for the commission to conduct an inquiry into the facts and circumstances of the assassination of Ms Bhutto”.

“The report painstakingly sets out the facts regarding the assassination and provides an extensive description of the circumstances around the crime,” he said.

The UN spokesman said in a statement “The secretary-general has full confidence in the committee's judgment. He believes that the report produced by the commission speaks for itself and can be helpful to any subsequent investigation.”

In his letter Mr Qureshi mentioned, among other things, lack of attention paid to any international dimension of the Dec 27, 2007, killing of the former prime minister.