KARACHI: After their appeals to national authorities seemingly made no difference, the families of seven of the 10 Pakistanis held hostage by Somali pirates have launched an international appeal, calling on foreign governments, the United Nations (UN) and the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to take coordinated action to help secure the release of their loved ones.
The seafarers on board the captured MT Honour 25 have been in captivity for nearly five months, but activists campaigning for their safe return say that the government first “played letter-letter” with them, and “now it is email-email full of lots of diplomatic talk”, but not offering a way out.
They also took issue with the manhandling and arrest of the women, children and elderly persons, who had gathered on Sharea Faisal on Sept 7 to protest.
Addressing a presser at the Karachi Press Club the other day, the families said they were giving the government until Sept 17 to do something, failing which they would come out to protest again and again.
Wife of a hostage laments police broke up their roadside protest as if they were ‘terrorists’
Speaking to the media, social activist Talib Abbas Raza said that when the government, the Foreign Office and whomever else they looked to for help could not deliver, the families of the hostage seamen decided to protest.
“They were going to hold a sit-in at Numaish but the roads there were blocked with containers, so they came to Sharea Faisal where the MoFA liaison office is located, to hold a sit-in there. They spent Sunday night there with elderly parents and little children. The police told them to postpone their protest for two days but when they did not leave, they were pulled and pushed by the police in the morning and arrested. But protesting is their right,” he said, recalling last week’s unfortunate incident.
The wife of one of the hostages said that they felt abandoned. “It sure felt like that when we were protesting by the roadside and the police treated us like terrorists. Our little children were pushed and pulled and our elderly parents were beaten up. At the Tipu Sultan Police Station, where we were taken after our arrests, we were insulted further,” she complained.
The brother of one of the hostages said that they felt helpless. “We are not here to criticise the government; we only want our loved ones back. When nothing else is working for us, then what option do we have other than coming out on the road to protest with our women and children?”
Representing the Ansar Burney Trust, Advocate Qurratulain said that if the government doesn’t want to help they should not insult the families of the hostages by arresting them.
“If they don’t want them to protest, which is their basic right, then show them some action or implementation of their promises. Otherwise, tell them straight they can’t do anything so that the families try to raise the ransom amount themselves,” she said.
International appeal
In a written statement, the families of the kidnapped MT Honour 25 crew said that their ordeal was part of a much wider humanitarian crisis.
“Many other seafarers are reportedly believed to remain in captivity in Somalia — reportedly around 90 people,” they said, and called on the UN and IMO to “place this humanitarian crisis at the centre of international attention and to facilitate stronger coordination among concerned governments, maritime authorities and relevant stakeholders”.
The families also appealed to the governments of US, UK, Australia, Pakistan and other maritime nations to work together to identify those in captivity and pursue every avenue for their safe release.
In particular, the statement made a humanitarian appeal to US President Donald Trump, asking him to take a personal interest in this crisis and use the influence of the US to encourage a coordinated international effort to secure the safe release of not only their loved ones, but all other seafarers held in Somalia.
Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2026
