‘Hostage’ situation: Families of Morning Glory crew want Libya to release men

Meeting between Pakistan and Libyan rescheduled for Sunday.

KARACHI: The families of the Pakistani crew of the Morning Glory oil tanker demanded the government push the Libyan authorities to release their men.

“The crew has been cleared by the courts but it is still in their custody,” said Shuaul Qamar Shamsi, the father of a second officer on the ship. “We request our government, especially the foreign affairs ministry, to hold talks with the Libyans and bring them back.”



Six Pakistanis including the captain were part of the 21-member team aboard  the  Morning Glory. The ship set off from Egypt in February and was heading for Tunisia when it was taken hostage by the Libyan rebels. The armed kidnappers smuggled their country’s national oil and had forced the crew to move the ship out from the Libyan territory. An operation by the US Navy Seals ended the saga by capturing the hostages and handing over the crew, vessel and oil to the Libyan government.

Despite the clearance of the crew by Libya’s attorney general on Wednesday, they have yet to be released. Shamsi said his son and the other locals were supposed to reach Pakistan on Thursday but the Libyan government did not hand them over to the Pakistani ambassador in Tripoli.

The ambassador, Javed Zia, did not receive any calls made by The Express Tribune. But according to Shamsi, officials were told to wait for six hours on Thursday, and then informed to come again on Sunday by the Libyan authorities. Earlier when the Pakistani embassy had reached out to the Libyans, they were told to arrive at three different locations but the crew was not handed over.

“I spoke to my son,” said Shamsi. “He is fine but he is afraid the rebels will attack the detention centre.” The families say that, in Libya, the rebel’s militia forces want the crew and the vessel and a part of the oil to be handed over to them. According to Shamsi, the crew has not been given their personal belongings or their documents yet.

Meanwhile, Captain Noman’s wife from Lahore said she was worried. “I cried after seeing a news clipping of my husband in jail,” she said. “I never imagined seeing him in such a state. Why is he being kept in such a place when he has not committed any crime?”

The Pakistani authorities have been now called by the Libyan authorities on Sunday morning. “Let’s see what happens. I just hope and pray that the crew is handed over to the Pakistani embassy so that they can come home,” said Shamsi.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 29^th, 2014.