Warsaw, Feb. 11: Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has blamed elements within the Pakistan government for hampering efforts to save the life of a Polish hostage beheaded by Taliban militants.

"The (Islamabad) government cannot count on the loyalty of all of its officers and officials is a sad reality. This was an obstacle in our cooperation, but nevertheless we had cooperation (from the Pakistani side)," Sikorski was quoted by The News, as saying.

"We had to deal with people who are evil in a pure form, whose perverted sense of honour is based on cruelty," he added.

Poland's Justice Minister Andrzej Czuma had said after the beheading that Polish intelligence knew the identity of Stanczak's kidnappers and their "friends in the Pakistani government".

However, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that Czuma's comments were "very unfortunate" and added that the minister- in his job barely three weeks - would not be authorized to comment on this case in future.

Tusk said he did not know whether Pakistan had done all it could do to help free Stanczak.

"All I can say is that they were very well aware how important this issue was for us," he said.

On Poland's move to cancel a planned visit to Warsaw by Pakistani senators, Tusk said that such contacts required a different atmosphere to the one we have now. (ANI)