Pirate hostage blame game

The Karachi police "showed their mettle" earlier this week by "fearlessly" detaining non-violent participants of a sit-in who were protesting the government's failure to bring home their relatives who have been held by Somali pirates for over four months. Police were quick to point out that, contrary to reports, they only detained the protesters, and no arrests were made. That is a distinction without a difference. Reporting on the sit-in suggests the protesters were not breaking any laws, and were only trying to draw the attention of legislators and Supreme Court judges to the issue. Federal and provincial legislators, on the other hand, are exchanging barbs with each other over all sorts of issues, but have scant regard for the health and safety of their constituents. The closest thing to a crime in this entire situation is the criminal dereliction of duty by our public representatives.

The 19 crew members of the Palau-flagged oil tanker MT Honour 25, who include 10 Pakistanis, have been held hostage since April 21, when the vessel was hijacked by armed pirates off the coast of Somalia's Puntland region. More than four months of negotiations have yielded no significant progress. The hostages and their families are begging for the government to negotiate their release, but Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has said this can't happen because of "international maritime rules". But no explicit rule or treaty bans ransom payments, which raises the question of why Dar would make such claims rather than simply admit his diplomacy skills are lacking. It is also surprising that the slightest threat of use of force is off the table. India and many other countries have previously used their warships to ensure Somali pirates meet their maker.

It is worth noting that Somali pirates are regularly accused of working with terrorist groups such as Al-Shabaab and with politicians in the government of breakaway Somali states such as Puntland, where Honour 25 and other hijacked ships are being held. If we cannot negotiate their return, perhaps we should show the pirates and their allies that threatening Pakistanis has serious consequences.