Karachi police briefly detain protesting family members of Pakistani sailors held hostage by Somali pirates

Karachi police briefly detain protesting family members of Pakistani sailors held hostage by Somali pirates.

Key points

• Shazia Hasan Published September 7, 2026 Updated September 7, 2026 04: 19pm.
• The MT Honour 25, a Palau-flagged oil tanker, was hijacked by armed pirates off the coast of Puntland, Somalia, on April 21.
• The last message from them came on August 7, more than 100 days after being taken hostage by Somali pirates.
• On Sunday, they began an overnight sit-in at Sharea Faisal near the FTC building and planned to march to the Supreme Court registry on Monday morning.
• "They were arrested around 7: 45am, " continued Ayesha, who was not detained by police.

Shazia Hasan Published September 7, 2026 Updated September 7, 2026 04: 19pm. Join our Whatsapp Channel. Add Dawn as a trusted source.

KARACHI: Some family members of Pakistani sailors. This person have been held hostage by Somali pirates aboard the MT Honour 25 for more than four months, were briefly detained in the early hours of Monday while they were staging a sit-in at Karachi's Sharea Faisal.

Notably, the MT Honour 25, a Palau-flagged oil tanker, was hijacked by armed pirates off the coast of Puntland, Somalia, on April 21. Besides 10 crew members from Pakistan, the hostages include seamen from Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka.

During more than four months of their captivity, no significant progress has been documented either in negotiations or in the payment of the ransom, stated to be around $3 million, for their recovery. Their families have staged protests for their recovery multiple times.

On Sunday, they began an overnight sit-in at Sharea Faisal near the FTC building and planned to march to the Supreme Court registry on Monday morning. But police reached the protest site before that and detained some of them.

They were afterwards issued, the wife of one of the hostages confirmed to Dawn in the afternoon.

"They were taken to the police station and kept there for a long time, and the police were not allowing us to see them. The police misbehaved with us and informed us to go away, " stated Ayesha Ameen, whose husband, Ameen Bin Shams, was a fitter on the hijacked ship.

In practice, a police official, who requested anonymity, additionally confirmed that the detained individuals had been issued.

Dawn additionally contacted East senior superintendent of police and deputy inspector general, but they did not respond.

Earlier, Ayesha recorded a video message at the protest site and remarked the families had been demanding the recovery of the hostages for four and a half months; even so, "no one is listening to us".

She continued that the protesters were not blocking any roads or engaged in illegal activity but were merely protesting peacefully.

"We came here for the hostages' release, not to become prisoners ourselves, " she continued.

Another protester recorded a video inside a vehicle that appeared to be a police van. Police personnel could be seen standing outside the van in the video, in which the maternal uncle of a second engineer on the ship decried the detention of the protesters.

We have been arrested – our women, elders and kids. It is shameful.

"Bilawal Bhutto sahib, we did not expect this from you, " Talib Raza remarked, expressing disappointment.

In another video, a woman was additionally seen inside a vehicle that appeared to be a police van. Meanwhile, another woman could be heard saying, "Look, we are being arrested. This is our administration, and this is our police. We are being taken away only since we spoke up for ourselves."

While reporting that they have run out of clean water, food and medicine, since the sailors' hijacking, the crew has additionally produced a number of emotional videos and audio appeals.

Notably, the last message from them came on August 7, more than 100 days after being taken hostage by Somali pirates. In that video, they appealed directly to the Pakistani administration for their release.

They appeared to be in a state of extreme distress, with most looking sick and subdued. The hostages requested that the Pakistani administration talk to the Somali pirates and take steps to release them.

Notably, the hostages are victims of an "ownership crisis" since it is not clear who owns the ship, and the man previously thought to be the owner was afterwards made public to be more probable a middleman who hired them.

Last month, in a session with the International Maritime Organisation's head, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar pressed for "urgent and effective institutional intervention" for the return of the Pakistani sailors.

Earlier that month, he had additionally directed "stakeholders" to intensify diplomatic engagement with national and international partners to facilitate the release.

For context, the Foreign Office has additionally maintained that it remains "actively engaged" to secure the release of the seamen. Extra input from Imtiaz.

Shazia Hasan is a senior staff reporter for Dawn. Her reporting covers human interest stories, the armed forces, Railways, education, and fishing communities.

In short, karachi police briefly detain protesting family members of Pakistani sailors held hostage is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.