KARACHI: Pakistani seamen face harassment after 9/11
KARACHI, Nov 13: In the wake of September 11 attacks in the US, Pakistani seamen have been facing a lot of difficulties and hardships, which include unnecessary security checking in different ports of the world, denial of visas and imposition of penalties on the vessels visiting the US ports with Pakistani crew on board.
“Pakistani ships have been quarantined on various ports the world over in the name of security,” Capt Naseem Ahmed Tariq, Manager Fleet Management Department, Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC), said at a seminar entitled: “Problems faced by Pakistani Seafarers”, at the KPT Staff Collage.
Other speakers said Pakistani seamen were being questioned to the point of interrogations, owners of vessels have been asked to pay penalties for having Pakistani crew on board when their ships visited the US ports. As it runs into huge amounts, visas are being constantly denied to Pakistani seamen.
Singapore and the US have especially become notorious for taking such measures, but many Muslim countries are also adopting similar steps against Pakistani seamen, the speakers said.
“This trend is continuously increasing and the owners employing Pakistani crew are rapidly shifting to other countries, such as India and Philippines, because they find it more and more impractical and expensive to make crew changes due to travel restrictions imposed by several countries on Pakistani nationals,” they observed.
It is pertinent to note that many other Muslims and non- Muslim countries are also facing similar problems.
The speakers apprehended that no owner would like to hire Pakistani crew on board if he has to pay US$ 30,000 to $ 40,000 for seven to ten days port stay in the US.
They pointed out that Pakistan, having lost its merchant marine fleet almost entirely, has been left with 14 obsolete vessels and the country with a population of 140 million has been reduced to only a labour-supplying nation in the maritime sector.
Pakistani seamen, having no work at home, have no other choice but to seek employment abroad at whatever terms available in order to feed their families.
The seamen, being well-trained and experienced, were readily acceptable to most of the ship-owners in the world and they used to earn foreign exchange for the country.
After the incidents of Sept 11, different types of restrictions have been imposed on travel and transit visas by many countries.
The worst case is that of the United State of America as can be seen from various new regulations being formed in the country in its fight against terrorism and under which the seafarers are now being targeted as terrorists and on many occasions they have been made indiscriminate scapegoats. This security overkill, they observed, was turning Pakistani crew into virtual prisoners at some ports.
The speakers said some solutions must be recommended to save the ship-owners, who hire Pakistani crew on board, from being penalised when their vessels visit the US ports.
Unless a solution is found to the aforesaid problems, the Pakistani seamen will face disappearance from the international shipping world.—PPI
