10
KARACHI: Neelum Mujtaba accompanied by her three daughters and an infant son has arrived here from their hometown of Mansehra to relaunch a struggle for the release of her husband, who has been in Somali pirates’ custody with six other Pakistani crew members of a foreign-registered ship M.V. Albedo since November 2010.
The pirates are said to be demanding $8 million in ransom for the captives’ release.
Although her earlier efforts to have her husband released had failed to bear fruit, her fading hopes were rekindled by the June 2011 release of the Pakistani and Indian crew of a ship.Muhammad Mujtaba, the chief officer of the Malaysian-flagged ship, was hijacked with 23 crew members, including seven Pakistanis, by Somali pirates when they were sailing with cargo to Kenya from the UAE in November 2010.
She said the movement launched by the families of the four Pakistani crew members for their release inspired her and her daughters to find a media platform to share their ordeal as a series of correspondence with the authorities in Islamabad and the Malaysian owner of the detained ship had not worked.
“In June when four Pakistanis among 22 crew members of M.V. Suez were being released, we tried our best to have our case highlighted as well,” she said. “But being residents of a far-off town with no senior official around and no access to the broadcast media, our efforts failed to move anyone. I finally took my children and made contacts with the six other families, whose loved ones are in captivity with my husband, and arrived in Karachi to launch my efforts anew.”
She said the family arrived here on Tuesday and within the next few minutes met Citizens-Police Liaison Committee chief Ahmed Chinoy, who, she said, “had played a key role in the release of the Pakistani crew members of the M.V. Suez”.
“While he was meeting us, he (Mr Chinoy) called the interpreter through whom we are in contact with Mujtaba. The kidnappers repeated their demand and we put our request before the CPLC chief to help us,” added Ms Mujtaba.
Just three months after the release of four Pakistani crew members against a payment of $2.1 million ransom, fresh facts about the detention of six Pakistanis among 23 crew members of the Malaysian ship by the Somali pirates came as a rude shock to many and it was a revelation to the authorities, who were ironically unaware of the incident. However, a few officials said the case had already been reported to the foreign ministry to pursue the release of the kidnapped crew members through diplomatic channels under the defined rules.
But almost a year after the piracy, no channel is seen moving for the Pakistani victims.
Despite attempts, there was no response from the directorate of the ports and shipping about the updates the institution might have about the Pakistani crew members. The Master Mariners Society of Pakistan, however, recognised the incident was reported in November 2010 and one of the detained Pakistani crew members was its member.
“At our end we have conveyed the facts and other details to the authorities concerned,” said a senior office-bearer of the society. “We have also approached the family of our member and are trying our best to coordinate efforts being made by any channel.”
For the desperate Ms Mujtaba, however, this might be the final attempt she is making to seek the release of her husband and all her hopes were pinned on the Sindh governor and every single individual who had been instrumental in the release of the four Pakistanis in June 2011.
“After three daughters, my son was born in February 2011 but my husband has not yet seen him. I am staying here at the home of a friend of my husband with little resources to subsist, and need everyone’s help in this matter,” she said.
