Durrak
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It has been nine months since Durdana Wasi last saw her husband. Capt. Syed Wasi Hassan sailed from Karachi for the Eritrean port of Massawa on July 26. This, he told his family, would be his last assignment for Red Sea Navigation, an Egyptian shipping company. A week later, Somali pirates had seized his ship, the MV Suez, in the Gulf of Aden. Hassan, 50, and his 22-member crew, which includes three other Pakistanis, were taken hostage. At the modest home of Hassans elder brother, where Newsweek Pakistan met with the captured captains wife, the mood verged on hopelessness. Say your final prayers for me, Hassan told his wife in a recent telephone conversation.
The pirateswho are in contact with the familyinitially demanded $5 million for the hostages, brought it down to $2.3 million, and are now asking for $20 million. Hassans brother Syed Askari Hassan says the treatment of the hostages has deteriorated over time. In a recent call he pleaded with the pirates, as one Muslim to another, to let the crew go. Im no Muslim, the pirate shot back. Hassan has met with several government officials urging them to help secure the release of his brother and the MV Suez crew. But he sees little progress. My brother was making a fair living, representing the country abroad, he says. And just look at our governments response.
The government is concerned about the hostages, and also about the potential of the pirates to disrupt Pakistans annual oil imports of almost 40 million barrels by hijacking vessels.
These pirates are extortionists, says Foreign Office spokesperson Tehmina Janjua, the more we raise this issue, the higher their demands get. In the matter of the MV Suez, which is anchored near the Somali town of Hobyo, the Egyptian company which owns the vessel has asked Islamabad to keep out of the fray. They have suggested that we not get involved as the ransom demand will go up if we do. It can cause problems, says Janjua.
Some 20,000 Pakistanis are registered as seafarers working for Pakistani and foreign companies according to the Government Shipping Office. Somali pirates are currently holding hostage 11 of them from three vessels. In recent days, the pirates released the crew of the MV RAK Afrikana, which included four Pakistanis; and their brutality has claimed at least one Pakistani: Capt. Syed Jafar Jafri of the MV QSM Dubai, who was killed last June.
Somali pirates have also come close to disrupting Pakistans energy supplies. Several times, movement of hostiles was reported so we immediately changed course, Rashid Siddiqi, chairman of the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation, told Newsweek Pakistan in his 14th-floor office overlooking the Karachi Port. PNSC vessels handle 98 percent of Pakistans oil imports. Most of the worlds trade is done by sea, this is a very serious issue that is not being handled properly, says Siddiqi.
Pakistan Navy is well aware of the problem. At the 39-nation naval exercise, Aman 11, in Karachi in March, the Navy chief, Adm. Noman Bashir, said piracy poses a serious threat to global energy and regional security. Pakistan currently commands Combined Task Force 151, set up in January 2009 under U.N. Security Council mandate to protect vessels especially in the Gulf of Aden and the western Indian Ocean. UNSC resolutions authorize states to take action against pirates in Somali waters and territory, if allowed to do so by the transitional government there, but few have exercised this option out of fear that the pirates would harm their hostages. Policing efforts of the Combined Task Force, NATO and the EU halved the number of pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden in 2010 from a year earlier, but made other sea routes vulnerable. The pirates are now active as far away as the coast of Madagascar, the Arabian Sea, and close to the territorial waters of India.
The Gulf of Adenwhich links to the Red Sea and onward to the Suez Canalis a critical point for global energy shipments, and a cash cow for the Somali pirates. They have attacked and captured ships conveying coal, oil, and even battle tanks, and set them free only after extracting millions in ransom. According to the International Maritime Bureau, Somali pirates are currently holding 28 vessels and 587 crewmembers hostage. Oceans Beyond Piracy, a Colorado-based private foundations initiative, estimates that last year alone, they made $238 million in ransom.
Vessels are steering clear of pirate-infested waters, many switching to longer routes around the southern tip of Africa instead of taking the Suez Canal. With the largest coastline in continental Africa and no functioning government for almost two decades, Somalia has become a hotbed for pirates, (especially since 2005)and a nightmare for other nations. Our country has had a tough time, with a civil war, and then so many more difficulties, says Ali Sheikh, spokesman for the Somali embassy in Islamabad. We are cooperating with international bodies and governments. We are worried and also very sorry for the piracy that is happening off our waters, he says. Thats the best we can do at the moment.
These piratesbelieved to number in the hundredsare wreaking havoc with economies across the world. According to Oceans Beyond Piracy, Egypt is losing out on $642 million in annual tolling charges from less traffic flowing through the Suez Canal. The impact on trade and losses to the oil, fishing, and tourism industries in Kenya, Yemen, Nigeria, and Seychelles is costing those countries an annual $612 million. The organization says maritime policing efforts carry an estimated price tag of $2 billion, and the rerouting of ships another $2.4 to $3 billion, which means pricier energy for consumers in importing countries.
The world also has another imperative for controlling piracy. Many pirates are in cahoots with Al-Shabab, a terrorist organization which controls vast swathes of Somalia and pledges allegiance to Al Qaeda. According to some estimates, Al-Shabab receives up to 20 percent of the pirates bounty.
In Karachi, Chairman Siddiqi has decked out his vessels with low-tech innovationswater cannons, barbed wire, and gun-wielding scarecrowsto thwart pirates. PNSC vessels are under instruction to go full throttle when passing through high-risk zones. Siddiqi is also deciding whether or not his organization should splash out on high-tech alternatives like nonlethal blinding lasers and acoustic cannons that blast attackers with high-frequency waves. Shipping crews are, by and large, unarmed because of complicated international laws regarding possession of weapons. Security contractors like Xe Services (formerly Blackwater) are also in the game, but Siddiqi dismisses employing private security as short term and very expensive. But, he says, energy-starved Pakistan must keep its options open because the entire Indian Ocean is a warzone.
In the Manora neighborhood where Wasi and Askari Hassan grew up, they would often come across mariners in crisp white uniforms from the nearby Pakistan Naval Academy. In search of adventure in faraway lands, both brothers signed up for the Merchant Navy. Now, to get Wasi back home, his family is pinning their hopes on Ansar Burney, a human rights campaigner and former federal minister, who has stepped in to negotiate with the pirates. But he, too, is frustrated. Ive talked to the pirates and told them not to harm the hostages, they just repeat their demands and hang up, Burney told Newsweek Pakistan before leaving for Cairo to meet with the owners of the MV Suez. The Somali pirates want their millionsor else. Things, says Burney, are getting desperate: We will beg for money in the streets if we have to.
The pirateswho are in contact with the familyinitially demanded $5 million for the hostages, brought it down to $2.3 million, and are now asking for $20 million. Hassans brother Syed Askari Hassan says the treatment of the hostages has deteriorated over time. In a recent call he pleaded with the pirates, as one Muslim to another, to let the crew go. Im no Muslim, the pirate shot back. Hassan has met with several government officials urging them to help secure the release of his brother and the MV Suez crew. But he sees little progress. My brother was making a fair living, representing the country abroad, he says. And just look at our governments response.
The government is concerned about the hostages, and also about the potential of the pirates to disrupt Pakistans annual oil imports of almost 40 million barrels by hijacking vessels.
These pirates are extortionists, says Foreign Office spokesperson Tehmina Janjua, the more we raise this issue, the higher their demands get. In the matter of the MV Suez, which is anchored near the Somali town of Hobyo, the Egyptian company which owns the vessel has asked Islamabad to keep out of the fray. They have suggested that we not get involved as the ransom demand will go up if we do. It can cause problems, says Janjua.
Some 20,000 Pakistanis are registered as seafarers working for Pakistani and foreign companies according to the Government Shipping Office. Somali pirates are currently holding hostage 11 of them from three vessels. In recent days, the pirates released the crew of the MV RAK Afrikana, which included four Pakistanis; and their brutality has claimed at least one Pakistani: Capt. Syed Jafar Jafri of the MV QSM Dubai, who was killed last June.
Somali pirates have also come close to disrupting Pakistans energy supplies. Several times, movement of hostiles was reported so we immediately changed course, Rashid Siddiqi, chairman of the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation, told Newsweek Pakistan in his 14th-floor office overlooking the Karachi Port. PNSC vessels handle 98 percent of Pakistans oil imports. Most of the worlds trade is done by sea, this is a very serious issue that is not being handled properly, says Siddiqi.
Pakistan Navy is well aware of the problem. At the 39-nation naval exercise, Aman 11, in Karachi in March, the Navy chief, Adm. Noman Bashir, said piracy poses a serious threat to global energy and regional security. Pakistan currently commands Combined Task Force 151, set up in January 2009 under U.N. Security Council mandate to protect vessels especially in the Gulf of Aden and the western Indian Ocean. UNSC resolutions authorize states to take action against pirates in Somali waters and territory, if allowed to do so by the transitional government there, but few have exercised this option out of fear that the pirates would harm their hostages. Policing efforts of the Combined Task Force, NATO and the EU halved the number of pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden in 2010 from a year earlier, but made other sea routes vulnerable. The pirates are now active as far away as the coast of Madagascar, the Arabian Sea, and close to the territorial waters of India.
The Gulf of Adenwhich links to the Red Sea and onward to the Suez Canalis a critical point for global energy shipments, and a cash cow for the Somali pirates. They have attacked and captured ships conveying coal, oil, and even battle tanks, and set them free only after extracting millions in ransom. According to the International Maritime Bureau, Somali pirates are currently holding 28 vessels and 587 crewmembers hostage. Oceans Beyond Piracy, a Colorado-based private foundations initiative, estimates that last year alone, they made $238 million in ransom.
Vessels are steering clear of pirate-infested waters, many switching to longer routes around the southern tip of Africa instead of taking the Suez Canal. With the largest coastline in continental Africa and no functioning government for almost two decades, Somalia has become a hotbed for pirates, (especially since 2005)and a nightmare for other nations. Our country has had a tough time, with a civil war, and then so many more difficulties, says Ali Sheikh, spokesman for the Somali embassy in Islamabad. We are cooperating with international bodies and governments. We are worried and also very sorry for the piracy that is happening off our waters, he says. Thats the best we can do at the moment.
These piratesbelieved to number in the hundredsare wreaking havoc with economies across the world. According to Oceans Beyond Piracy, Egypt is losing out on $642 million in annual tolling charges from less traffic flowing through the Suez Canal. The impact on trade and losses to the oil, fishing, and tourism industries in Kenya, Yemen, Nigeria, and Seychelles is costing those countries an annual $612 million. The organization says maritime policing efforts carry an estimated price tag of $2 billion, and the rerouting of ships another $2.4 to $3 billion, which means pricier energy for consumers in importing countries.
The world also has another imperative for controlling piracy. Many pirates are in cahoots with Al-Shabab, a terrorist organization which controls vast swathes of Somalia and pledges allegiance to Al Qaeda. According to some estimates, Al-Shabab receives up to 20 percent of the pirates bounty.
In Karachi, Chairman Siddiqi has decked out his vessels with low-tech innovationswater cannons, barbed wire, and gun-wielding scarecrowsto thwart pirates. PNSC vessels are under instruction to go full throttle when passing through high-risk zones. Siddiqi is also deciding whether or not his organization should splash out on high-tech alternatives like nonlethal blinding lasers and acoustic cannons that blast attackers with high-frequency waves. Shipping crews are, by and large, unarmed because of complicated international laws regarding possession of weapons. Security contractors like Xe Services (formerly Blackwater) are also in the game, but Siddiqi dismisses employing private security as short term and very expensive. But, he says, energy-starved Pakistan must keep its options open because the entire Indian Ocean is a warzone.
In the Manora neighborhood where Wasi and Askari Hassan grew up, they would often come across mariners in crisp white uniforms from the nearby Pakistan Naval Academy. In search of adventure in faraway lands, both brothers signed up for the Merchant Navy. Now, to get Wasi back home, his family is pinning their hopes on Ansar Burney, a human rights campaigner and former federal minister, who has stepped in to negotiate with the pirates. But he, too, is frustrated. Ive talked to the pirates and told them not to harm the hostages, they just repeat their demands and hang up, Burney told Newsweek Pakistan before leaving for Cairo to meet with the owners of the MV Suez. The Somali pirates want their millionsor else. Things, says Burney, are getting desperate: We will beg for money in the streets if we have to.
