Case Study of MV Suez and Anti Piracy Operations: Lessons for India and Pakistan

A study of how the case of MV Suez a pirated vessel was handled would serve to provide some invaluable lessons on how India and Pakistan should join hands to take on this menace in the Indian Ocean. An otherwise well conducted rescue operations by the Pakistan navy, resulted in a near collision between PNS Babur and INS Godavari endangering the crew and the ships. Briefly put, the MV Suez was hijacked by the pirates who held the ship and its crew hostage while negotiating the ransom money for over ten months. The multinational crew comprising, Pakistanis, Indians, Egyptians and a Sri Lankan were put through endless misery by the prolonged negotiations. It was thanks to the untiring efforts of a lawyer and a civil activist, Ansar Burney a Pak national who mobilised public opinion and collected the negotiated ransom money of $ 2.1 million that the crew members were released on June 13, 2011.