| Submit your comments on this article |
| Europe |
| Poland vows to hunt down Pakistan killers |
| 2009-02-09 |
| WARSAW (AFP) — As Poles reeled in shock Monday after the beheading of a Polish engineer by militants in Pakistan, their government vowed to hunt down his murderers and bring them to justice. "Now we can no longer save our compatriot, we are going to try to punish his killers," Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said after confirming that a video tape of Piotr Stanczak's execution was authentic. "A crime was committed, so there must be an investigation, a search for the guilty parties, and if possible, they must be brought before a court and served due punishment." Sikorski said the Polish justice ministry was in the process of getting an international arrest issued for Stanczak's suspected killers. Justice Minister Andrzej Czuma blamed Pakistan's "apathy" towards tackling terrorism for the killing. "The structure of the Pakistani government is behind this apathy. The Pakistani authorities encourage these bandits," Czuma told the PAP news agency. He said the Polish diplomatic service had been in permanent contact with Pakistani officials throughout Stanczak's capture. Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier wrote to his Polish counterpart Sikorski to express his anger at the murder. "This crime fills us with deep sadness and horror," Steinmeier wrote. "The German government condemns this horrible act in the strongest possible terms." A group linked to Afghanistan's Taliban insurgency released a video of the execution of Stanczak on Sunday. Polish broadcasters showed only a still image from the video. Stanczak, 42, was working as a geologist in Pakistan for a Polish oil and natural gas exploration company when he was seized in the volatile northwest of the country on September 28. His abductors killed his driver and his bodyguard. The gruesome beheading of Stanczak -- the first of a Pole by Islamic militants -- caused widespread shock and revulsion in Poland. "Never in Poland have we had such a situation," said Jacek Cichocki, security adviser to Prime Minister Donald Tusk. "We see films about citizens from other countries -- Americans, British -- but not Poles." Cichocki said the kidnappers had originally demanded the release of 60 Islamist fighters held in Pakistan but eventually watered down their demands to just four. Other Polish officials said the killer of US journalist Daniel Pearl, slain after he was kidnapped in 2002 in Pakistan, was among those whose release had been sought. Stanczak's captors also wanted Poland to pull out the 1,600 troops it has deployed in Afghanistan as part of the UN-mandated and NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). His killing was front page news in Poland's national dailies Monday, with several printing a static image from his execution video showing him flanked by two masked and armed men. Behind the headlines, commentaries questioned if Tusk's government had done enough to try and free Stanczak. Leading broadsheet Gazeta Wyborcza asked: "The Polish government, did it do everything?" |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #7 Send pan Wo³odyjowski. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2009-02-09 21:37 |
| #6 The Poles gave us Enigma. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2009-02-09 20:33 |
| #5 The Talib and the AQ's done messed up. The Poles are frighteningly good soldiers. BTW, need I mention it was a POLISH General who lead the coalition armies that defeated the Turks in the Vienna Woods? The Poles got a bad rap because the Nazis clobbered them in about six days in 1939, it was less to do with bravery than lousy equipment. The Poles that made it west were excellent pilots and tough relentless fighters. All heck is going to break loose in the "tribal areas". Between the poles, the SO's and the drones, the hardboyz are going to have some "splaining to do". |
| Posted by: James Carville 2009-02-09 18:12 |
| #4 "A crime was committed, so there must be an investigation, a search for the guilty parties, and if possible, they must be brought before a court and served due punishment." Good luck with that. OP's method would have a greater chance of success. It's not a crime. It's an act of war. If Poles aren't ready to fight the war they should stay out of Pakistan because it is a war zone. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2009-02-09 17:34 |
| #3 How 'bout sending 20,000 Polish military personnel, along with some support units, to Afghanistan? We'll try to add another 30,000, if our current "president" doesn't get cold feet. We can ask the Indians to attack from the east, the US and NATO attack from the north, and the US and whatever other troops we can scrounge up to make an amphibious landing along the coast. We should all meet in Islamabad. From there we can dismember "Pakistan", giving half to India and the other half to Afghanistan, using the Indus River as a natural boundary. That would go a LONG way toward ending 60 years of political and criminal mischief and mayhem. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2009-02-09 17:21 |
| #2 F'n-Muslims are doing their cause great justice again eh? Just more disgusting public relations for them.. Mo'Graphic Slaughter of real Human Beings by the Islamic-sub-humans. And now the scum bags are burning down Forests in OZ. |
| Posted by: Red Dawg 2009-02-09 16:52 |
| #1 Sic 'em. |
| Posted by: Richard of Oregon 2009-02-09 16:14 |