Author: TNN
Publication: The Times of India
Date: February 10, 2009
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Angry_Poland_accuses_Pak_of_fostering_terrorism/articleshow/4107939.cms
Poland has joined the ranks of countries accusing
Pakistan of inaction, if not outright complicity in terrorist activity, following
the beheading last week of a Polish national by the Pakistani Taliban.
In a furious response that has stunned the
international diplomatic community, Polish justice minister Andrzej Czuma
on Monday blamed Pakistan's ''apathy'' in tackling terrorism for the killing
of a Polish geologist who was kidnapped by the Pakistani Taliban from Attock
town in Punjab.
"The structure of the Pakistani government
is behind this apathy. The Pakistani authorities encourage these bandits,"
Czuma told a Polish news agency, even as the horrific killing recalled the
similar beheading of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
The minister's outburst stunned his own colleagues
in the diplomatic circuit who are a little more circumspect in public about
Pakistan's reputation as a haven of terrorism. ''It was unnecessary honesty,
it sent shivers down my spine when I heard Minister Czuma speaking,'' Pawe?
Gra?, a member of the Polish parliament's Special Services Committee and Czuma's
party colleague told the Polish media.
However, so great is the outrage in Warsaw
over the brutal killing that the Poland's Senate speaker has called off a
visit by his Pakistani counterpart this week.
Speaker Bogdan Borusewicz said Tuesday his
decision is not an unfriendly gesture toward Pakistan but was made after taking
into consideration ''the situation in which our countryman was murdered.''
Other European countries also expressed revulsion at yet another beheading
in Pakistan.
Meanwhile, according to reports in the Polish
media, the State Prosecutor's Office in Cracow, formally investigating the
incident, would like to secure the original tapes containing a seven-minute
film showing the Pole's execution. For now, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson
said, it has only received a digital copy.
"We don't want a digital copy because
it may have been tinkered with,'' said Prosecutor Marek We?na at the Organised
Crime Bureau, State Prosecutor's Office in Cracow. He said the persons who
had taken part in the negotiations would be asked to testify. It is also possible
a Polish prosecutor will go to Pakistan to secure potential evidence there.
The Polish case offers Pakistan yet another
opportunity to prove its bona fides in the war on terror amid continuing questions
in the international community about its seriousness. Whether it is the Mumbai
carnage or the London subway blasts or the beheading of Pearl and now of Piotr
Stanczack, Pakistan has not distinguished itself with its dodgy investigations
seemingly aimed more at protecting the perpetrators rather than bring them
to justice.
Many of the accused in such incidents, including
Omar Saeed Sheikh, Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi, Yusuf Muzammil, and Zarrar Khan
are reported to be ISI assets who live under the intelligence agency's protection,
while Pakistan's civilian dispensation drums up red herrings while privately
pleading it is not fully in control of the agency or that it has been infiltrated
by rogue elements.
With its constant denials, fudging and prevarication,
Pakistan's government has laid itself open that it is complicit in such acts
of terrorism. There is immense distrust among the U.S and its allies about
Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI and how far it is in cahoots with the jihadis
it fostered for long.
