KARACHI (The Thursday Times) — India has asked Pakistan for consular access to six Indian seafarers who have been stranded aboard an Iranian cargo ship at Karachi Port since April, and diplomatic sources in Islamabad said on Saturday that the request was being processed.
The six are crew on a vessel owned by an Iran-based shipping company. It arrived in Karachi on April 17 and has stayed at the port since then because of a commercial and legal dispute between its owner and the port authorities, the sources said. The case has reached the Sindh High Court.
The crew cannot leave the ship until replacements arrive. Six replacement sailors were ready by October 29 but were still waiting for clearance from the port authorities, according to people familiar with the case.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs confirmed on Friday that it had asked for access. “We have been in touch with these people there, and also with their employer, as in the shipping company and their agent, and we are trying to resolve this issue,” spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said. “We’ve also asked for a consular request to the Pakistani side.”
One of the six is Vineet Kishore Mishra, a chief officer in the merchant navy from Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh. Officials from the Indian High Commission in Islamabad are expected to visit the crew at the ship’s berth on Karachi’s West Wharf once access is granted.
Relatives in India say life on board has been hard, with an unreliable power supply and a weak mobile signal that lets the men call home only about once a fortnight.
Pakistan and India grant each other consular access to detained nationals under a bilateral agreement signed in 2008, and exchange lists of prisoners twice a year. The six seafarers are not in custody, but their case has drawn growing attention in India as the months have passed.
Karachi’s ports have been busier than usual this year as the war in the Gulf has pushed shipping lines to reroute cargo, and global carriers are studying new investment in Pakistan’s terminals.
