KARACHI: Curtain was wrung down on the suspenseful … 32 hours of Pakistan’s first experience with sea-jacking when three armed commandos who had seized the Greek vessel at West Wharf on Saturday afternoon [Feb 2], ended their siege of the ship, freed the two Greek hostages, and were “safely deported” to Cairo en-route to Libya shortly before midnight on Sunday. This was possible through the joint efforts of the Federal Government, the Ambassadors of Egypt, Libya and Syria, and the two PLO representatives in Karachi who had a hectic day having three full-round talks with the armed men. …

Through their persuasions, the commandos stepped down from their original demand of immediate unconditional release of the two condemned Palestinian commandos by the Greek Government and reconciled themselves to the commutation of their death sentence. … The armed men left the Greek ship, m.v. “Vori”, for the Karachi Civil Airport at 10-45 p.m., and boarded a PIA Boeing-707 jet chartered by the Pakistan Government … “for its westward journey”. From the port to the airport, each commando shared the car separately with the three Arab envoys.

Published in Dawn, February 5th, 2024