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Thursday 9 April 2009

His own independence day

Freed after 2 months as a hostage, John Solecki is a grateful man
Thursday, April 09, 2009
BY DAVID GIAMBUSSO
Star-Ledger Staff

After being held hostage for 61 days by Pakistani militants, his hands and feet bound and his life under constant threat, John Solecki found himself taking a familiar walk around his parents' South Orange home yesterday afternoon.

"It's great to be free and it's great to be home," said Solecki, 49. "I would like to thank all the people who made my release possible."

Solecki was in good spirits, making a brief statement to reporters yesterday, but declined further comment. He directed inquiries to the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. He said he had no immediate plans other than to relax and spend time with his family.

"I'm just resting at this point," he said, but when asked if he would be returning to his work at the U.N., he replied "Of course."

Solecki was taken captive at gunpoint on Feb. 2 and held by the Baluchistan Liberation United Front, a little-known, Pakistani militant group.

On April 4 he was discovered by a local restaurant owner on a mountain road with his hands and feet still bound. After spending a night in the Combined Military Hospital, in Quetta, Pakistan, Solecki began the 7,678-mile journey home. He was greeted by his parents and brother at Newark Liberty International Airport Tuesday night.

Solecki's brother William, 47, a professor at Hunter College of the City University of New York, said the family was relieved and grateful for Solecki's return. "I feel great, the family's great, and we appreciate all the work that so many have done," he said.

Solecki, who has worked for the U.N. agency since 1991, had been running the commissioner's office in Quetta for several years before he was abducted.

His kidnappers attempted to use Solecki to negotiate the release of political prisoners allegedly being held in Pakistan, according to reports by the Associated Press. The group threatened to behead him at one point and issued a video on Feb. 13 that showed him pleading for help.

"This is a message to the United Nations," he said in the video. "I'm not feeling well. I'm sick and in trouble. Please help solve the problems soon so I can gain my release."


"I think he may have charmed the kidnappers at some point," said Christopher Stockwell, 48, a friend of Solecki's since the sixth grade. "He wasn't the kind of guy who wanted to fight or get angry or upset."

Stockwell and Solecki graduated in 1978 from North Valley Regional High School in Demarest, Bergen County, but lost touch in recent years. Stockwell said Solecki's work with refugees was in keeping with the man he knew.

"It didn't surprise me that he was overseas working for the U.N.," Stockwell said yesterday. "He wouldn't be afraid to go out and do something to try and help."

Solecki's father, Ralph, is a renowned anthropologist, known mostly for his study of early man and discoveries at the Neanderthal cave in Iraq. Friends of the family said his family's global awareness helped foster Solecki's interest in foreign cultures.

"They had traveled a lot in the Middle East when the kids were young," said Karen Strickholm, 50, who grew up with Solecki in Demarest. "The Soleckis were always very humanitarian," she said. "They were a family that our family always really admired."

Strickholm, who works in public relations in New Mexico, helped to organize outreach during Solecki's captivity, along with several of his childhood friends. She said the reaction has been overwhelming.

"All over the country, people who never met him formed prayer groups," Strickholm said yesterday. "He had prayers, meditations, chanting and positive visualization from tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people."

U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) personally intervened to speed Solecki's release, making repeated calls to embassy officials here and in Pakistan, as well as U.N. officials.

"I'm thrilled for him and his family, who remained strong and steadfast throughout," Menendez said yesterday.

In a prepared statement, the U.N.'s High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres described Solecki as having endured his ordeal "with lots of courage and determination and we can all be very proud of him. And I think the same can be said about his family."

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