October 06, 2008	Monday	Shawwal 06, 1429

ATTOCK, Oct 5: All the 20 Polish engineers and technicians of Geofizyka Kraków Company have left the Jand tehsil of Attock for their homeland after the kidnapping of their colleague about a week back, it has been learnt.

Sources said 11 of the polish engineers and technicians working at the main field camp office in Matiyal left the area on Wednesday while the remaining departed on Saturday.

Soon after the kidnapping incident, the company started to remove their installations including vehicles, monitors and generators etc., from the surrounding areas of the camp office near Matiyal chowk in the jurisdiction of Basal police. The survey equipment have also been removed from the field camp of Pind Sultani village in northern Attock district from where the polish engineer Piotr Stanczak was kidnapped after killing his two drivers and a security guard.

The Polish company in its website also announced that “due to the fact of kidnapping one of Geofizyka Kraków employees, the contract for 3D Soghri survey has been suspended under the provision of `force majeure’ clause,” adding the Polish company and its client, the OGDCL, would decide about further actions.

The Geofizyka Kraków had commenced the seismic survey project of 3D Soghri that covers over 600 square-km area which is mostly an agricultural terrain.

Besides affecting the survey activities, the move has also resulted in the suspension of payment of compensations to hundreds of land owners in a number of villages against use of their agricultural fields/land for the survey. Reports said when the affected land owners approached the company field office at Matiyal soon after the incident for clearance of their pending compensations, they were told that all activities of the company had been suspended for an indefinite period.

CRACKDOWN: After reported claim of Taliban militants that the Polish engineer kidnapped from Attock was in their custody in the tribal area of Darra Adamkhel, law-enforcement agencies here have launched a crackdown against activists of banned religious organisations.

A number of activists/suspects have been picked up from various areas including Pindsultani and Domail villages of Jand tehsil for investigation. All the detained activists are being interrogated by the police in an undisclosed place, sources added.

A five-member police team headed by SP investigation Attock has already been set up to probe into the incident.

When contacted, the head of the investigating team, SP Raja Hasan Akhtar, said some suspects of banned religious outfits and those having criminal records had been detained and were being interrogated.

About the Taliban claim that they had kidnapped the Polish engineer, he said irrespective of the claim the local police were making hectic efforts to trace the facilitators of the kidnappers as without them the culprits could not have abducted the foreigner.