By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has ordered officials to step up diplomatic contacts with Somali authorities and international partners in an effort to secure the release of ten Pakistani sailors who have now been held hostage by pirates for almost four months.
Dar chaired a high-level meeting in Islamabad on Thursday to review what the Foreign Office described as Pakistan’s “intensified efforts” to bring the men home safely. According to a statement posted on X, he told those present to maintain close and regular coordination and to deepen engagement with both domestic and foreign counterparts, “including the Somali authorities and relevant international organisations”, in order to secure the sailors’ release.
The ten men are among 17 crew members aboard the MT Honour 25, a Palau-flagged oil tanker that was seized by armed pirates off the coast of Puntland, Somalia’s semi-autonomous northern region, on 21 April. Also being held are seven Indonesian nationals, including the ship’s captain, along with one Indian and one Sri Lankan crew member.
More than three months on, there is no sign of a breakthrough. Negotiations have stalled and no ransom — reportedly in the region of $3 million (£2.4 million) — has been paid. The Foreign Office insists the government remains “fully seized” of the matter, with Dar said to have expressed hope that sustained, coordinated engagement would eventually produce “a positive outcome” and allow the seamen to return safely to their families. He also used Thursday’s meeting to express solidarity with relatives of the hostages, many of whom have grown increasingly frustrated with the pace of the response.
The renewed push comes just a week after the crew issued their bleakest appeal yet. On 7 August — more than 100 days into their ordeal — two video messages emerged showing the hostages in visibly deteriorating health, several appearing gaunt and unwell. In the recordings, both the Pakistani and foreign crew members pleaded with the government to open talks with their captors and take concrete steps towards their release. It was the first such message to surface since mid-June, after a period in which the pirates had used footage and phone calls primarily to pressure relatives into paying ransom.
Those appeals have become a grim fixture of the crisis. Since the hijacking, crew members have repeatedly recorded emotional videos and audio messages describing conditions on board, saying supplies of clean water, food and medicine have run out entirely. Family members in Pakistan have echoed those accounts, describing loved ones surviving on meagre rations while the diplomatic effort to free them drags on.
Complicating matters further is what has been described as an “ownership crisis” surrounding the vessel itself. It remains unclear who legally owns the MT Honour 25; a man initially believed to be the owner is now thought more likely to have been a middleman engaged to hire the crew, leaving Pakistani officials without a clear counterpart to negotiate the men’s release.
The Foreign Office has previously acknowledged the scale of the challenge. Officials said in June that any law enforcement operation to free the hostages would be “a bit difficult”, given that the tanker is carrying a cargo of explosive material — a factor that has ruled out the kind of direct rescue attempts sometimes used in earlier Somali piracy cases. Pakistan’s embassy in Djibouti, which holds accreditation for Somalia, has remained in contact with both Somali authorities and the ship’s owner throughout the crisis, with embassy officials previously travelling to Mogadishu to gather first-hand information. Islamabad has also urged the Somali government and the vessel’s owner to ensure food, water and other basic necessities keep reaching the crew while negotiations continue.
Whether Thursday’s renewed diplomatic push will accelerate a resolution remains to be seen. For the families of the ten Pakistani sailors, the wait — now stretching past 100 days — continues.
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