Relatives of Indian daptives held by Somali pirates thank Pakistan for help

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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[Good to know that they are free now :slight_smile:

Somali pirates release 6 Indian sailors after $2.1 million ransom

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_somali-pirates-release-6-indian-sailors-after-2-1-million-ransom_1554814](http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_somali-pirates-release-6-indian-sailors-after-2-1-million-ransom_1554814)

Six Indian sailors, held captive by Somali pirates for over 10 months, have been released and they will return home in the coming days, their family members said Tuesday.
The release materialised after the continuous efforts of Pakistan-based Ansar Burney Trust, which is run by Pakistan’s former federal minister for human rights, Ansar Burney.
The Indians were among the 22 crew members of MV Suez, an Egyptian cargo vessel which was hijacked by pirates in the Gulf of Aden on August 2, 2010.

“We are very thankful to Ansar Burney and Pakistan government for their help. They have paid a ransom of $2.1 million to the pirates to make this release possible. Burney was negotiating with the pirates for the last few months,” Sampa Arya, wife of Ravinder Gulia (30), one of the hostages and resident of Haryana’s Rohtak town, told IANS Tuesday.
“I have talked to my husband over the phone. He said that they have been released and all of them are in good health. They will reach India in the next few days,” she added.
Apart from the six Indians, the 22 hostages comprised 11 Egyptians, four Pakistanis and one Sri Lankan. The Indians include two from Haryana and one each from Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Jammu and Kashmir. One of the Indians is from Mumbai.
The family members of the hostages had met many senior Indian politicians to secure their release but all their efforts went in vain.
Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to intervene in this matter but nothing fruitful worked out.

“Burney had raised funds with the help of the Pakistan government. Here, the Indian government has let us down. We met many leaders but nobody helped us. They said paying ransom is not the right way. I have lost all my faith in Indian politicians,” stated Arya.

Rajender Gulia, father of Ravinder, said, “Pakistan has helped us like an elder brother in this matter. We had lost all hopes as no Indian politician was ready to help us. Saving a human life was not important for them. But Pakistan emerged as a saviour for us.”

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Re: Relatives of Indian daptives held by Somali pirates thank Pakistan for help

Ouch! :D

Good to know our 4 Pakistanis are safe.

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Re: Relatives of Indian daptives held by Somali pirates thank Pakistan for help

ITs nice of burney to take initiative. and some people call him gaddhar.

he got new work cut out for him. last month indian navy rescued 6 pakistani sailors from somali pirates and they are stranded in mumbai waiting on pakistani authorities to come and get them.

i hope they are united with their families soon.

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Re: Relatives of Indian daptives held by Somali pirates thank Pakistan for help

Hooray some good news for once!

:icono:

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Re: Relatives of Indian daptives held by Somali pirates thank Pakistan for help

:k:

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Re: Relatives of Indian daptives held by Somali pirates thank Pakistan for help

It is always wrong to judge people.. we should look at their acts..!!!
Great work Burney.

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Re: Relatives of Indian daptives held by Somali pirates thank Pakistan for help

Ansar Burney Zindabaad! :yahoo:

Pakistan Zindabaad! :jhanda:

India Zindabaad!

Congratulations to all parties involved. :cheer:

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Re: Relatives of Indian daptives held by Somali pirates thank Pakistan for help

may be we should form a joint strategy to counter the somali pirate menace.
it hurts both of us and cooperation on this matter will bring both the armed forces closer

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Re: Relatives of Indian daptives held by Somali pirates thank Pakistan for help

^ Sounds like a great idea… “we share a common enemy… my enemies enemy is my friend…”

Just one small problem, the Sommalians might actually beat us both. :cb:

Seriously with all due respect to Pakistan and India our respective armies are great, our naval power however is almost unheard of…

The Sommali pirates are better suited to smash and grab warfare anyway… if we move on them we will only push them onto someone else…

I’d rather all parties tried to help each other without violence (coming from me oh the Irony)… in some respects Somali people are victims too though.

But anything that brings Pakistan and India together is good, lets not do it someone esles expense… even the Americans.

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Re: Relatives of Indian daptives held by Somali pirates thank Pakistan for help

That's the way to do it.
We will win over their entire nation inshallah, one ransom at a time! :)

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Re: Relatives of Indian daptives held by Somali pirates thank Pakistan for help

Facts but no excuse:

Somali fisher (some of them became pirates) complained about foreign ships that started fishing the sea empty around that area ..... so they started to take them hostage with the outcome of ransom being paid which was a lot more than what they made from fishing ..... so once they realised how much they could make with little fisher boats they simply started capturing bigger ships ..... even super tankers and ships transporting Arms ...... Coz all of a sudden they could make millions ......

Irony of the whol story is that the fish in that area has recovered due to less exploitation by foreign ships but now who wants fish when dollars are raining

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Re: Relatives of Indian daptives held by Somali pirates thank Pakistan for help

Good news.
Good job Burni, and I believe Sind governor helped.
It was the right thing to do.
We should help each other in human matters.
Maybe this effort will be rewarded in the future also.

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True Identity Of Pakistan

This is the real face of Pakistan

:jhanda:

All Indians Thanking Pakistan For Helping Them

:jhanda:

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Re: Relatives of Indian daptives held by Somali pirates thank Pakistan for help

ok seriously i didnt knew pirates existed nowdays too :eek:

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Re: Relatives of Indian daptives held by Somali pirates thank Pakistan for help

At the end of the day life saved were the life saved. There are no "indian" lives or "pakistani" lives but it was bit odd to see Indian companies who would spend millions to have lunch with Tendulkar were not the one paying for their own nationals.

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Re: Relatives of Indian daptives held by Somali pirates thank Pakistan for help

:k:

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Re: Relatives of Indian daptives held by Somali pirates thank Pakistan for help

Today's Good Morning Pakistan with Nida Yasir on ARY had Ansar Barni and all families of the released sailors as guests.
Mahesh Bhatt called in from India and thanked Ansar profusely.
Ansar was equally gracious and thanked Mahesh for his support when Ansar was in India and invited him to visit Pakistan soon.
No clip available yet.
Looks like this has created a lot of good will among Indians and Pakistanis.

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Re: Relatives of Indian daptives held by Somali pirates thank Pakistan for help

Nice. Thanks to the parties involved in freeing the hostages.

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Re: Relatives of Indian daptives held by Somali pirates thank Pakistan for help

Glad to hear that all are rescued :k:

Good to know that, to gain some you lose some, I guess the “total sum” of the universe remained the same :smiley:

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Re: Relatives of Indian daptives held by Somali pirates thank Pakistan for help

**Only After Pakistan, India sends warship to escort Suez :smiley:

**Nitin Gokhale, Ketki Angre, Updated: June 15, 2011 23:21 IST

New Delhi: The Indian government seems to have taken a cue from Pakistan. Today, it sent a Godavari class warship to protect the MV Suez, which has six Indians on board. The warship is expected to reach Suez by Thursday afternoon.

It was a Pakistani ship that came to the rescue of the Suez after the Indian Navy ignored its repeated calls for help. The merchant vessel was released by Somali pirates less than 48 hours ago. This morning, it was attacked once again by pirates. (Read: Suez crew messages about new threat at sea) The crew of the Suez, which is owned by an Egyptian company, was held hostage for nine months before 2.1 million dollars was paid as ransom earlier this week, some of it raised via donations from Pakistan.

Indian sailors and their families had complained that the Indian Navy ignored repeated calls and messages for help. Instead, Pakistan rushed a major naval warship, PNS Babar, to meet the Suez which is still in dangerous waters. The PNS Babar will escort the Suez to the port Salalah in Oman. That journey is likely to be completed on Friday morning.

Ansar Burney, a Pakistani rights activist, played a key role in the negotiations that led to the pirates freeing the hostages late on Monday. Mr Burney confirmed today that he had received messages from the Suez of a new attack. (Read: Families of Indian sailors thank Ansar Burney)

The owners of the ship told NDTV that they had approached the Indian government for help. In an email to NDTV, a senior company official said, “I’ve contacted the (Indian) Navy, but there’s no response. I have called them so many times.” He says Indian officials advised him to “call the NATO hot line and ask if they have any war ship in this area for escort.”

http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/pa…mv-suez-112470

**
Pakistan Navy comes to escort freed MV Suez

**Wednesday, June 15, 2011, 17:41 [IST]

New Delhi, Jun 15: In a blow to India’s face, Pakistan has come forward to help Indian sailors who are on the Navy vessel MV Suez that was released by Somali pirates after Indian Navy failed to do the same.

PNS Babar, a Pakistani Naval Ship has promised to volunteer MV Suez and escort the vessel to Salalah, Oman, said a crew member. The abandoned Navy vessel MV Suez, that was released by Somali pirates on Monday, Jun 13, was attacked again by pirates on Wednesday, Jun 15.

The six Indian sailors who are set out to come back home after spending ten months being held hostage by Somali pirates in Gulf of Aden were released after paying a huge ransom by Ansar Burney, a Pakistani human rights activist.

Abdul Mathar, the owner of the ship told the media that it took long for them to establish contact with the crew on the ship. He also thanked Ansar Burney, the Pakistani human rights activist for his efforts and said that it was him who negotiated with the pirates and brought down the amount to $2 million.

Somali pirates had released the hijacked MV Suez on Monday Jun 13. The 22 people who were freed by the hijackers included Indians from Mumbai, Tamil Nadu, one each from J&K, Himachal and two Indians, four from Pakistan, eleven from Egypt and one from Sri Lanka.

Pakistan and India was supposed to raise $500,000 and $60,000 respectively, whereas the Egyptian shipping company was supposed to give $1million. Despite of setting a deadline, India failed to fulfill its promise.

(http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/mv-suez-gives-indian-navy-the-cold-treatment-112815)