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KARACHI: Five Pakistani fishermen who were made hostage by Somali pirates in December last year arrived here on Monday from Mumbai by a PIA flight.
Emotional scenes followed the landing of the flight at the Quaid-i-Azam International Airport. Relatives who had thronged the airport to greet their near and dear ones had tears of joy upon their reunion after more than six months.The fishermen were garlanded by their family members and office-bearers of the Ansar Burney Trust, which arranged their release from the custody of Indian police.
The fishermen were identified as Sajjad Ali, Aurangzeb, Lal Bux Lahoti, Farhad and Mohammad Umair. Two of them belong to Karachi and three to Mirpur Sakhro in Thatta district.
The trust's vice-chairman Sarim Burney said the fishermen had been made hostage by Somali pirates in December when they were fishing in the middle of Pakistan-India territorial waters. They were freed when the Indian authorities launched an operation about four-and-a-half months ago against the pirates to get their fishermen released.
Two fishermen — one Pakistani and an Iranian — were killed during the operation.
Mr Burney said that instead of handing over the fishermen to Pakistan, the Indian authorities had detained them at a Mumbai police station.—Azizullah Sharif
