Head of the National Security Bureau has called Foreign Minister Sikorski “infantile”, after a row broke out as to who was ultimately responsible for the beheading of Piotr Stanczak in February.
“Foreign Minister Sikorski’s answer is characteristic of an infantile man, who is holding an important post,” head of the National Security Bureau (BBN),” Aleksander Szczyglo told Polish Radio 3 at the weekend.
The comment came after Szczyglo (right) asked the foreign minister for comments on the BBN’s report into Stanczak’s grisly death.
Two completely different reports have now been issued concerning the violent death of Piotr Stanczak, the Polish geologist beheaded in Pakistan, last February.
Firstly, in May, Poland’s Foreign Ministry released a detailed report on the killing of Stanczak in Pakistan and efforts made to recover his body, which was detained by the Taliban for weeks after his death.
The document concludes that the, “unexpected and brutal execution was the result of several unfortunate coincidences.”
The ministry’s report, “at times even deforms the image of the coordination of actions and relations between the Polish and Pakistani authorities,” claims a document later issued by the National Security Bureau in a critical report in the efforts made by the government in Warsaw for his release.
The Bureau, subordinated to President Kaczynski, and led by a former Defense Minister Aleksander Sczyglo, goes even further in its accusations.
“Piotr Stanczak was not a victim of effective tactics introduced by the kidnappers, but a victim of ineffective actions led by the Polish government,” National Security Bureau’s (BBN) analysis declares.
After asking for the government’s response to the BBN’s report, Foreign Minister Sikorski answered in a way that has clearly angered Aleksander Szczyglo.
“I received an answer to my letter to Minister Sikorski. It [the answer] is characteristic of an infantile man, who is holding an important post,” Szczyglo commented on Polish Radio’s breakfast program at the weekend.
The National Security Bureau head did not want to explain what exactly was Sikorski’s response but it “did not provide answer to my questions,” he said.
Stanczak asked to covert to Islam
Meanwhile, the Hindustan Times reports that the Taliban gave Stanczak a chance to save his life if he converted to Islam.
The revelations come from a man that shared a cell with the Pole for some time before he was beheaded. “Amir” - a pseudonym - who was released by the Taliban recently after his family paid the 1 million rupees ransom - says that the leader of the band of insurgents told him that: “Stanczak was very stubborn and refused our goodwill gesture to save his life."
Amir also claims that the Taliban had planned the kidnapping of the Polish engineer for a long time, watching his movement closely as he went about his work in the Attock province, near the north west border with Afghanistan. After the kidnap, Stanczak was moved several times until his final imprisonment and eventual beheading in a two-storey prison building in South Waziristan.
"Piotr never showed any sign of nervousness or fear. He would finish the food we gave him and sleep well. We all admired his courage. It was not an easy decision even for our commander to kill Piotr," a man identified as Abdullah told Amir. "That's why he gave him a last chance." (jg/pg)