Publicity leaves pirates laughing all way to bank: Nirupama Rao

Maintaining that publicity will not help the case of the Indian sailors held hostage by the Somali pirates, foreign secretary Nirupama Rao today said "all this publicity leaves pirates laughing all way to the bank."

Responding to questions on the hijacking of a ship by Somali pirates which had among others six Indian sailors on board and what action government was taking, Rao tweeted, "The Rip Van Winkle analogy does not apply. DG Shipping and MEA were working on the case/cases before publicity blitzkrieg."

"All this publicity leaves pirates laughing all way to bank. Does it help r (our) sailors? Answer is flat no. Pl (please) reflect carefully," she said.

"Matters like this are best handled without publicity. Please get the picture," the foreign secretary added.

The Panama-flagged vessel, MV Suez, was captured by the pirates on August 2 last year.

The ship's crew includes four Pakistanis, six Indians, four Sri Lankans and 11 Egyptians.

The Somali pirates have reportedly demanded $4 million for release of the six Indians and given a week-long deadline for meeting their demand, which is to expire shortly.