Agitated family members ofIndian sailors being held captive by Somali pirates today madean emotional plea to the government to intervene and negotiatewith the sea brigands for their release.
"It has been more than 9 months since my youngerbrother Saurav Kumar (23) was kidnapped by these pirates,"said Sushil Kumar during a protest at Jantar Mantar here,adding that the pirates had given them time till December 20and that he was not sure about the fate of his brother.
"They are beaten and tortured and are given food andwater in very less quantities," said Shyji, mother of Dibin(22) who hails from Kerala.
Demanding urgent intervention from the government, thefamilies said in one voice that they have met many ministersbut other than assurances, no concrete action has come fromtheir side.
"We have met Shipping Minister G K Vasan, ExternalAffairs Minister Salman Khurshid and also Defence Minister A KAntony but apart from assurances they haven't done nothing,"alleged Sushil.
Among those on board MT Royal Grace is Mridul (25)whose mother Vinodini sought action from the government,saying that they are regularly coming to the capital fromKerala and apart from "hollow assurances", the governmentisn't doing anything.
"They (pirates) have demanded USD 1.7 million and fromwhere are we going to get that much money," said Kumar whocame from Meerut.
The government, in its bid to tackle the piracymenace, had recently announced a co-ordinated effort betweenthe Ministries of Shipping and External Affairs and has issuedguidelines for deployment of armed guards on board merchantships by the ship owners to fight piracy.
"17 sailors, out of 22, are Indian," said Sushil as hestrssed on the issue of their release.