02 March,2009 11:43 AM IST | | Anshuman Dutta
Hijacked ship's chief officer was to be married in February. His family alleges government's not helping Want you back: Maninder (Left) with Harmeek Singh
Just a month ago, the family of 29-year-old Harmeek Singh, the chief officer of the merchant vessel MT Sea Princess II, was preparing for its favourite son's wedding that was to take place on February 15. But today the distressed family is busy running from pillar to post for his safe release.
MiD DAY on February 20, 2009, had first reported that the Panama-based Sea Princess II, with eight Indians among its crew, had been hijacked by Somali pirates in the first week of January, 2009. But even after a month, there is no news of the vessel. Worse, families of the hijacked crew allege that the Indian government is clueless about its whereabouts and isn't even sure of the names of the Indian nationals aboard it. "Indian shipping authorities got to know about the incident on January 6. However, no action has been taken yet and the government is clueless," said Maninder Singh, Harmeek's childhood friend and would be brother-in-law.
"The hijackers had demanded $ 3 million as ransom but later hiked it to $ 41 million. The shipping company is not keen to pay up and the Indian government is not responding to our repeated calls for help," Maninder said. He added that one of the hijackers, Abdullah, called up Harmeek's sister in Jammu asking her to contact the Arabic new channel Al Jazeera to pressurise the shipping company to pay the ransom. "There is no hope. We are waiting for a miracle," said Maninder.
Meanwhile, the crew is allegedly living in inhuman conditions. "My brother told us the crew is living in inhuman conditions without food. And they have been ordered to speak only in English," said Arunima, the sister of another hijacked crew member Anupam Bhattacharya from Dehradun.
Anupam's family too is anguished at the government's apathy. "We have written to senior officers in the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Shipping. But they are yet to respond to our plea. We are planning to meet the ministers next week, provided we get an appointment," said Arunima, from Dehradun.
