Piotr Stanczak’s body was laid to rest in a white casket at the city cemetery in Krosno, where he lived before going to Pakistan last summer. His family, foreign ministry officials and the local governor attended the Roman Catholic ceremony. 

His body was flown to Poland from Pakistan last week. Mr Stanczak, 42, was kidnapped close to the Afghan border on Sept 28 while on a project for a Krakow-based geophysics company that surveys oil and gas fields for Pakistani authorities.

In return for his freedom, the kidnappers had demanded the release of some imprisoned militants, a condition the Pakistani government refused to meet. Mr Stanczak was held hostage until his captors beheaded him on Feb 7 in a killing they videotaped.

He was one of a handful of foreigners kidnapped in Pakistan in past months as the country witnessed a deterioration in security alongside a rise in Al Qaeda and Taliban-led violence.