This picture released by the Ansar Burney Trust shows the released crew members of MV Suez after 10 months of captivity in Somalia. – PPI Photo

The home coming journey of the 22 crew members of MV Suez, after their freedom from 10 months in captivity of Somali pirates, is in its final lap after the conclusion of Pakistan Navy’s operation for evacuating to safety a foreign flag merchant vessel in distant waters.

Four Pakistanis, 11 Egyptians, six Indians and a Sri Lankan are on board frigate PNS Zulfiquar which is expected to anchor here on Thursday.

The whole episode has generated a feeling of goodwill among the people of the countries to whom the crew members belong. While all arrangements for a red carpet welcome have been finalised, relatives of freed Indian, Egyptian and Sri Lankan crew members are eager to receive their dear ones without further delay and were contacting Pakistani authorities to make their reunion a reality.

The authorities here too were keen to make it possible at the earliest and use this opportunity to facilitate the bilateral negotiations with India and for removing impediments to peace initiatives. It has provided yet another opportunity to the leaders of Indian and Pakistan to build collaborative friendly relations for the betterment of their people languishing much below poverty level.

This was despite the fact that five Pakistani hostages freed from Somali pirates by the Indian Navy were languishing in the Indian prison since March.

Release of MV Suez hostages was made possible due to efforts of the Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan, social worker Ansar Burney, and others who played vital role in raising funds for securing their release. It was done through behind the scene interaction with the captors. They got involved with the owner of the ship because the Captain and three other members of the crew were Pakistanis and their family members were exerting pressure for their release. But in the process, the effort was not only confined to getting the Pakistanis released. A plan was worked out to ensure release of others as well. In this process contributions were made. But at the last moment, an Indian donor backed out, jeapordising the whole operation. The effort nevertheless continued for the sake of humanity. Many Indians have welcomed Pakistan and its Navy’s role.

When the hostages were finally freed and allowed to proceed towards Salalalh, the Omani port, Master of the vessel sent distress signals following which Naval Chief directed PNS Babar, which was on anti-piracy task in the Gulf of Aden area, to provide it necessary security. It was unusual because the vessel was Panama registered.

As the time passed and the sea became rough MV Suez exhausted fuel and started crumbling. This caused the crew members to be evacuated from the sinking ship to PNS Babar that had provided safe passage to the merchant ship at the request of its Captain.  PNS Babar was in the area as part of its task with Coalition task force 151 in the Gulf of Aden area in anti-piracy activity. Transfer of the crew from MV Suez to PNS Babar was completed by Sunday evening. The crew members were then transferred to PNS Zulfiqar which was especially dispatched on the orders of the Naval Chief Admiral Noman Bashir to bring the freed crew members to Pakistan.

But the journey to freedom was not without operational hick ups. While PNS Babar was providing close support to MV Suez before it broke down, Indian Navy ship Godavri arrived in the vicinity and tried to hamper the humanitarian operation of the PN ship. Godavari also tried to contact master of MV Suez to offer support which was declined by the Captain. The Indian Navy‘s maneuvers were dictated by its thinking of being the dominant force in these waters where other littoral states must accept its position. It was certainly not reflective of co-operative action with other states equally affected by the menace of piracy.

Some Indian analysts are of the view that perhaps the delay in the rescue of the six Indian seamen who were caught up on board MV Suez, captained by a Pakistani officer, had led to an “unfortunate war of words” between India and Pakistan. They nevertheless maintained that Pakistani authorities have to be “generously” thanked by the Indian people for their help in getting the Indian hostages released with the help of a Pakistani humanitarian relief organization. It is heartening to note that many Indians have been vocal in praise for Pakistani effort while expressing their views on the social network.

Analysts have rightly expressed concern over tactical response to hostage situations. The time international community has taken in developing such a tactical response was not satisfactory while it was becoming clear that without co-operation among the navies of affected countries any tactical response is bound to remain unsatisfactory.

While Pakistan is part of the American led coalition force at sea, there was nevertheless the need for setting up a structured co-operative mechanism involving navies of the littoral states for strengthening preventive patrolling and for evolving a mechanism for mutual assistance in dealing with hostage situations. But unfortunately the Indian belief that Indian Ocean should be treated as its domain, its contentious relationship with Pakistan, and its willingness to become part of the American-led strategy to contain China, was working against the cooperative effort.

The lesson drawn from this episode is that we need a collaborative action against pirates without remaining glued to nationalistic rituals to serve the teaming millions living much below poverty level in South Asia. Good neighbourly relations based on aspirations of the people across political divide should be the basis of agenda for war against terrorism and extremism, be that on land or at sea. We need to change the present thinking mode. We don’t need another battle of Kalinga to change the mind set.

The writer is a senior correspondent at Dawn.

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