Going AWOL when there is not even a war, always embarrassing.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\06\16\story_16-6-2007_pg7_5
11 Pakistani sailors vanish on Navy trip to Japan
TOKYO: Eleven Pakistani sailors went missing in Tokyo as they took part in a rare naval goodwill visit to Japan, officials said on Friday. “Eleven personnel from our Pakistan Navy have disappeared. It is a very regrettable incident,” Pakistani embassy spokesman Muhammad Abdul Wahid Khan said. The men were among nearly 700 Pakistani naval personnel aboard the two ships on this week’s visit. They vanished during a tour of Tokyo whose highlight was a stop in the frenetic Akihabara district, a haven for electronics goods and Japan’s comic-book subculture. “We have asked the Japanese authorities to apprehend the people so that we can immediately deport them and so they can face legal action,” Wahid said. The navy realised late Thursday that the men were missing. The two ships, the PNS Moawin and PNS Babur, left Friday without the sailors at the end of the four-day visit. Pakistan Navy spokesman Capt Siddiq Akbar confirmed that the ships had left without the sailors and that Pakistani authorities had asked their Japanese counterparts to track them down. “After finding out the reason for their absence, the legal proceedings will take their course,” Akbar added. A Tokyo police spokesman also confirmed that the sailors were missing but put the number at 10. It was only the second time that Pakistani naval ships have gone to Japan. Japan has been building ties with Pakistan, particularly since the September 11, 2001, attacks which put the South Asian country on the frontline of the US-led “war on terror.” Separately, Kyodo News said the Japan Coast Guard complained that one of the Pakistani ships accidentally discharged water contaminated with oil and sewage, causing a two-kilometre spill that was cleaned up. agencies