Monday August 10, 2026
Muttahida leader Dr Farooq Sattar speaks alongside families of sailors taken hostage by Somali pirates.—Shakil Adil / White Star
With more than 100 days having passed since Somali pirates seized the MT Honour 25, the vessel’s crew has issued a fresh distress appeal, urging the Pakistani government to intervene before their worsening ordeal turns tragic, Dawn.com reported on Sunday.
The Palau-flagged oil tanker, carrying between 17 and 19 crew members — including 10 Pakistanis — was hijacked by armed pirates off Puntland State, Somalia, on April 21. More than three months later, negotiations have made no apparent headway and the ransom, reportedly about $3 million, remains unpaid, raising growing concerns about the hostages’ health.
In two video messages aired by DawnNewsTV and dated August 7, Pakistani and foreign crew members appeared extremely distressed, with most looking ill and physically weakened.
The hostages appealed to Pakistan’s government to open talks with the Somali pirates and take immediate measures to secure their freedom.
Yasir Khan, one of the Pakistani sailors, said several crew members had become sick and that they had no medicine available.
He called on the government, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Maritime Affairs Minister Junaid Anwar Chaudhry to bring them home “before it is too late” and their condition deteriorated further.
Khan also appealed to Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman, saying, “please do something for us”.
Another Pakistani hostage, Hussain Yousuf, said: “More than a hundred days have passed, and still nothing is known about what is happening to us, or what will happen to us.”
He urged the prime minister, Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) and Chief of the Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir to act before “very bad news” emerged.
Foreign Office (FO) Spokesperson Tahir Andrabi told Dawn on Sunday that he regretted and was deeply concerned that the hostages remained in captivity.
Andrabi said an inter-ministerial process was in progress, with the Ministry of Human Rights, Ministry of Maritime Affairs and other relevant agencies closely tracking developments.
“The main challenge is that these individuals are being held in an autonomous region of Somalia,” he said.
“The operational steps required to secure their release are particularly complex and difficult. The process of negotiating with their captors is also a major challenge.”
He said Somalia’s tribal structure and the role of influential figures had made the situation even more difficult, noting that the pirates holding the Honour 25 crew were among those involved in the kidnapping.
“However, we hope for a better outcome,” Andrabi said, adding that Pakistan remained in “constant contact” with Somalia’s government, its authorities and relevant international organisations.
The spokesperson extended his sympathies to the hostages’ families and loved ones, saying the government understood their anguish and anxiety.
“This matter remains a priority and under our constant monitoring,” Andrabi said. He added that “all possible efforts” were being pursued, in coordination with relevant ministries and agencies, to secure the hostages’ early release and repatriation.
The group includes 10 Pakistani sailors, seven Indonesians — among them the captain — as well as one Indian and one Sri Lankan national.
Families meet Farooq Sattar
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) on Sunday urged the federal government to act immediately to recover the Pakistani nationals held by Somali pirates, saying their families were enduring severe emotional and financial distress.
The appeal followed a meeting between senior party leader Dr Farooq Sattar and a delegation representing the hostages’ families at the MQM-P’s temporary headquarters in Bahadurabad.
After the meeting, Sattar told the media that the federal government, prime minister, field marshal, and foreign, defence and interior ministers must take notice of the crisis and provide relief to the affected families.
“The owner of the shipping company is not coming forward and is not negotiating with the pirates,” he said. “Neither Pakistan nor the families of the hostages should be held responsible for paying the ransom. I personally apologised to the families for the delay in meeting them.”
He said that if Kamran Tessori were still governor, “this issue would have been resolved by now”, arguing that Tessori could have brought industrialists and traders together to help resolve the matter.
“If the federal government or the Somali government is not paying the money, MQM-P from Karachi can meet this target,” Sattar said, assuring the families that his party would support them.
The MQM-P leader also criticised the provincial government’s handling of the crisis and questioned how often the Sindh chief minister had approached the federal government on behalf of the affected families.
