Karachi police briefly detain protesting family members of Pakistani sailors held hostage by Somali pirates
KARACHI: Some family members of Pakistani sailors, who have been held hostage by Somali pirates aboard the MT Honour 25 for more than four months, were briefly detained on Monday morning while they were staging a sit-in at Karachi’s Sharea Faisal. The MT Honour 25, a Palau-flagged oil tanker, was hijacked by armed pirates off the coast of Puntland, Somalia, on April 21. Besides 10 crew members…
Karachi police briefly detained family members of Pakistani sailors held hostage by Somali pirates on Monday morning during a sit-in protest in Karachi's Sharea Faisal. The MT Honour 25, a Palau-flagged oil tanker, was hijacked off the coast of Puntland, Somalia, on April 21, with 10 crew members from Pakistan among the hostages.
The families have been staging protests for their recovery, but no significant progress has been made in negotiations or ransom payments, which are reportedly around $3 million. The protesters, who were not blocking roads or engaging in illegal activity, were taken to the Tipu Sultan police station and later released. The families claim they were manhandled by police and not allowed to see detained relatives.
The Pakistani government has been actively engaged in diplomatic efforts to secure the sailors' release.
Written by urgent.news from Dawn - Pakistan's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
