BJP leaders, families of abducted Indians meet PM, Speaker

New Delhi, Mar 10 (PTI) Senior Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) leaders on Thursday met the Indian Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh and Speaker Meira Kumar taking up the issue of
Indian sailors held abducted by Somali pirates and sought the
government's immediate steps to secure the early release of
the hostages.
Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, the lower house
of the Indian Parliament, Sushma Swaraj, her counterpart in
Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament, Arun
Jaitley and Deputy Leader of the BJP in the Upper House S S
Ahluwalia met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday
evening along with the family members of the captive Indian
sailors.
They demanded that the government take immediate
steps for the early release of the abducted sailors.
Sharing their anguish, the Prime Minister assured them
that the government would do whatever is feasible for the safe
return of the sailors, sources said.
The Prime Minister told the members that the Indian
government was working with various other governments for the
purpose, they said.
Earlier, Swaraj, who had sought the appointments with the
Prime Minister and the Speaker, led the family members for a
meeting with Meira Kumar in the Parliament House complex.
After the meeting, Swaraj told reporters that the Speaker
had given them a patient hearing and the meeting was positive.
She had pleaded the case of these family members with the
Speaker.
Sources said when the ladies narrated their vows, some of
those present broke down.
External Affairs Minister S M Krishna told Parliament
earlier in the day that the government would everything
possible to get the sailors released but cautioned against
emotive response as it could danger their lives.
However, the kin of the captive ship crew were not
satisfied with the response of the Prime Minister and hoped
the government would do much to secure the safe release of the
hostages from the pirates.
Sumpa Arya, wife of a sailor who was onboard MV Suez,
said "I am not happy with the Prime Minister's reply. He said
we will talk with the Egyptian government. There is no
government there, so, we will put pressure on the army".
She said Singh did not give any assurance of the safe
release of the sailors nor did he give any timeframe and
merely repeated what several other ministers had been saying
over the issue in the past few days.
"BJP leader Sushma Swaraj told us she will play the role
of a coordinator between us and the government. All I can say
is that we will not give up our struggle till the safe release
of the sailors", Arya said.
She said that in the meeting with Singh, Foreign
Secretary Nirupama Rao and the Shipping Secretary were also
present.
Harsimran, representing, Ajit Singh, President, Merchant
Navy Association, said the pirates demanded a ransom of Rs 16
crore for the release of the sailors and the Prime Minister
did not give any clarity how this amount will be paid to the
pirates.
"The Prime Minister only gave assurances that the
government was making all efforts for the sailors release. But
time is ticking fast. One ship was seized by pirates six
months back, another nearly a year ago", said Amarsinh
Chauhan, whose son, a cook, is among the crew held by Somali
pirates.