ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will not pay a ransom for 10 sailors held by Somali pirates, Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar said Saturday, citing international maritime law as Islamabad works with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) on a strategy to secure their release.
Dar met IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez in the UK this week to discuss the Pakistani seafarers, who have been in captivity since April.
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Pakistan has been pursuing efforts to bring the sailors home safely. They were aboard the Palau-flagged MT Honour 25 oil tanker when they were taken hostage. The families of the detained crew have called on the government to step up its efforts, warning that the sailors had exhausted their clean drinking water and were surviving on scarce food supplies.
“There are certain international principles and maritime rules that have to be followed, and Pakistan also follows them,” Dar told reporters at the Pakistan High Commission in London.
“One of those principles is that you do not negotiate or pay ransom to secure the release of your people, because that would encourage the pirates to repeat the same thing, particularly by targeting countries or ships whose owners are willing to pay ransom.”
Dar, who is also Pakistan’s foreign minister, described his meeting with the IMO chief as “good” and said the hostage situation was among the issues discussed.
“We discussed the issue and developed a strategy,” Dar said, without providing further details.
Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesperson said earlier that Islamabad had asked the Somali government and the owner of the MT Honour 25 to ensure the hostages continued receiving food, drinking water and other basic necessities while negotiations proceeded.
The spokesperson said in June that a law enforcement operation to free the sailors was “a bit difficult” because the oil tanker is carrying explosive cargo.
