Polish press is in uproar over the beheading of the Polish geologist, Piotr Stanczak, who was kidnapped by the Taliban in Pakistan four months ago. Ransom demands made by his captors were not met, so they carried through on their threat to end the Pole’s life on Saturday morning.
Rzeczpospolita writes that the Pole was a victim of a distant, poorly understood conflict – but one that Poland is somehow involved in because of the mission in Afghanistan. The paper writes that the horrifying situation brings up questions of a political nature – especially considering that the Pakistani Taliban has made this an international issue and not one involving simply those who are fighting in their area. The daily also questions whether or not Poland did enough to save the life of the engineer – no journalist actually knows just how much was done by Poland or how much was done by Pakistani officials.
As well, Rzeczpospolita takes into account the fact that freeing Taliban prisoners – as was one of the ransom demands – is not the best moves in terms of geopolitical games. And how, asks the paper, does Prime Minister Donald Tusk feel now, considering that several hours before the news about the beheading was confirmed, he stated that Poland will give in to no one’s ransom demands. Obviously, writes the daily, it would be better if he hadn’t said such a thing, even though most journalists know that it was not an official statement. But, the paper really wants to know what concretely was done over the past four months to work to free the Pole.
Dziennik splashes two commentaries across their inside page, both asking different things – one asks if the Polish government did enough to free the Pole and the other claims that it’s the fault of the Pakistani government. The first commentator claims that it is impermissible to call the tragedy an act of guerilla war and politicians cannot begin to point the finger within in the government, as such divisions would simply be another victory for the Taliban. The commentator warns that, while it is necessary to review the situation to make sure Poland did all that they could in this situation, the country has to avoid partisanship.
The second commentator for Dziennik writes that, in all of the chaos of the situation, Poland did not have a chance to negotiate. The paper recalls that the Taliban was in direct communication with the Pakistani government – not the Polish government – and ransom demands were made of Pakistan, not Poland, the poor Pole simply became a political pawn. While the Taliban played an extremely hard game, it has nothing to do with Poland, claims the daily – it was about sovereignty over their Pashtun territory. Unfortunately, the Polish government simply did not have enough weight to pressure the Pakistani government to do what would best help the engineer.
The tabloids Fakt and Super Express, both dedicating their covers to the tragic death of the Pole, question whether or not the Polish government did all they could to rescue Stanczak. And while Fakt maintains that the country must not melt into game of finger-pointing, they still are firm on the line that, while Tusk was discussing European security policy in Munich, he allowed a Polish citizen to be killed in such a brutal manner. Super Express, along similar lines, claims that Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski seemed to avoid the situation, instead of getting publicly involved in bringing the Pole home safely. (mmj)