The body of the beheaded Polish engineer, Piotr Stanczak, is scheduled to arrive at Warsaw’s military airport at 7:00 tomorrow morning on a 12-hour flight from Islamabad, Pakistan.

Originally, the flight was scheduled for tonight, but the numerous state visits scheduled far in advance for today caused the delay, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Piotr Paszkowski.

Prime Minister of Great Britain Gordon Brown is in Poland today as is his Italian counterpart Silvio Berlusconi and a delegation of Ukrainian security officials – all set to meet with either President Lech Kaczynski or Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

The flight from Pakistan alone will take 12 hours and is, according to Paszkowski, rather logistically complex, requiring special permission from the Pakistani government as well as the governments of countries over which the plane will fly. The Pakistani government, as well, have prepared a special military honour to be displayed at take-off. The engineer’s corpse will be accompanied by high-ranking officials from Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has prepared and will release a special report on the undertakings of the Polish government as relates to the Stanczak kidnapping and eventual beheading. Paszkowski stated that the report is already ready, but release is being delayed until the victim’s body is safely on Polish soil as there allegedly contains sensitive material regarding cooperation between Poland and Pakistani authorities and special services.

The Polish engineer was working for Geofizyka Krakow when he was abducted by armed assailants on 28 September about 200 km southeast of Islamabad. Three Pakistanis – a driver and two bodyguards who accompanied the Polish engineer – were shot dead during the kidnapping. Stanczak was held in captivity by the Taliban as the group demanded the release of some of their colleagues from prison. Demands were not met by the Pakistani government and the Pole was beheaded on 7 February. (mmj)