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| Endless wait for wife of a Indian crew member held hostage by Somali pirates | | Braving odds with kids, Madhu rues govt 'apathy & indifference' | | KUNAL SHRIVATSA
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Mar 21: For Madhu Sharma, the last about eight months’ period have proved to be nothing less than an ordeal as her husband Narottam Kumar Sharma, 37, of Vijaypur, nearly 28 kms from here, is one among the 25 crew members of an Egyptian ship held hostage by Somali pirates since August 2, 2010.
It is an endless wait with a glimmer of hope for a woman who is running from pillar to post, seeking safe release of her husband from the clutches of dreaded captives- the Somali pirates.
Talking exclusively to Early Times, Madhu narrated her tale of woes with a choked throat, “I have been making rounds in the corridors of power at the state as well as central level ever since the news about my husband’s abduction broke, but till now to no avail,” she said
“I along with others, whose kin are also held hostage by the pirates, are making frequent rounds to the national capital in a hope to get some positive news about the release of Indian hostages, including my husband…. Last month I went to Delhi on February 22 and tonight also I am scheduled to leave for the capital.” Madhu added
“All the suffering families get together in Delhi and stay there at a common place… All of us move from one Ministry to another to press for the safe release of our kith and kin. During my last trip, we even met Prime Minister Dr Manmohan, who assured all help of the central government for the release of Indian hostages… We also went to meet Foreign Minister SM Krishna and Shipping Minister GK Vasan, who sought some time for the issue to be resolved,” Madhu informed adding “ it was Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj, who first intervened and arranged our meeting with the Prime Minsiter and others.”
Madhu rued the dilly-dallying tactics of the central government which has not able to get the six Indians back to their country.
“I am sorry to say the union government is not pressing hard to rescue the hostages …. They are doing nothing concrete to resolve the issue. We are getting assurances only for quite some time now.” she said
Seeing the ‘indifferent’ attitude of the Indian government, the ship owner too has starting shirking his responsibility to facilitate the release of the captives as the proprietor of the vessel shot off a letter to the affected families refusing to do anything as far as safe release of the hostages is concerned.
“When your government is not utilising its resources to seek the release of your kin why should I pay money to the hijackers for their freedom… I don’t’ want ship and my crew members,” Madhu said quoting vessel owner
Madhu’s agony not ends here as on one hand she is going through a mental torture due to the separation from her husband for the last eight months and making frequent rounds to Delhi for Narottam’s freedom while on the other she has to put a brave face in front of her two children- Nikhil,9, and Nandika,5, without letting them know what has happened to their father.
“Both of them are missing their father but I have not told them that what exactly has happened keeping in view their tender age…. They might get disturbed on knowing that their father has been kidnapped…. This is really tough but I have to manage it somehow.”
It is pertinent to mention here that 6 Indians were among 25 crew members of MV Suez, an Egyptian cargo vessel which was hijacked in the Gulf of Aden on August 2 last year. The pirates have demanded over $4 million as ransom for their release.
The 25 hostages comprise 11 Egyptians, six Indians (including Narottam), four Pakistanis and four Sri Lankans.
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