Author: Associated Press
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: February 11, 2009
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/pak-govt-elements-must-share-blame-for-beheading-poland/421865/
Poland promised to issue international arrest
warrants for Taliban militants after the apparent beheading of a Polish engineer
in Pakistan, and officials charged that elements within the Pakistani Government
shared blame for the killing.
Pakistan's top diplomat in Poland firmly rejected
the accusation that some members of the Islamabad government are sympathetic
to Islamic extremists, saying his country is snarled in a bitter fight with
terrorist groups that is killing many of its own.
Without a body, Polish authorities were not
able to officially confirm the death of Piotr Stanczak, but they said a seven-minute
video purporting to show the 42-year-old's slaying appeared authentic. Copies
of the video were delivered to journalists in Pakistan on Sunday.
Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski condemned
the apparent killing as a "bestial execution" and said the government
would issue arrest warrants for the culprits. "A crime was committed,
so there has to be an investigation, a search for the culprits, and if possible
putting them before the justice system and an exemplary punishment,"
he said.
It was not immediately clear what impact the
issuing of warrants might have, because Poland does not have an extradition
treaty with Pakistan. Islamabad has refused to extradite Pakistanis suspected
of taking part in the November terrorist attack in Mumbai, India.
