Shunned by govt, families of captured Indians struggle in obscurity

“Do you think anyone in the government cares about what happens to my son?” said Dadasaheb Jadhav, 50, father of Swapnil, one of the 13 Indians held hostage at sea by Somali pirates. Jadhav stares blankly at a poster of a ship and waits for a call that has not come for two years.

Since March 2010, when the ship Swapnil was on — MV Iceberg — was hijacked, no one from the government bothered to get in touch with Jadhavs, forget visiting them. Shipping minister GK Vasan has not called any of the families that DNA visited. Shipping secretary K Mohandas who retired in February 2012 too did not bother to get in touch with them. The hostages and their families have been forgotten by the government.

The families though continue to live on hope. They went to meet Vasan in New Delhi in January. Two months later, they met prime minister (PM) Manmohan Singh, leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and speaker Meira Kumar. They hoped the political stalwarts would be of help, but nothing happened.

The families are struggling. Jadhav, living in a 100sqft house in Karad district, makes Rs10,000 a month. But the bulk of the amount goes in repaying loan that he took to educate Swapnil. His savings are now over and there is no word on Swapnil either.

A few hundred kilometres to the north, in Nashik, Purshottam Tiwari, is waiting for a call from his son Dheeraj, also held hostage on MV Iceberg. Tiwari retired as a subedar-major in 2008 and has been working hard to support his family of three. The shipping company that had employed the six Indian seamen stopped paying them since they were held hostage. More than the financial troubles, it is the emotional trauma that haunts them.

In Ambala, Haryana, Nirmal Singh has been struggling to raise her three-year-old son Abhimanyu who last saw his father even before he could understand his relationship with him. In Mumbai, Mansinh Vitthal Mohite is recovering from a debilitating stroke. His son Ganesh is still trapped on the MV Iceberg.

“The PM says we don’t talk to pirates. In such a case, whom do we approach to get our children back? Look at the US. See how they care for their citizens. Our children are held hostage and no one is ready to raise a finger. And we call ourselves a superpower,” said Mohite.

Frustrated with the government’s apathy, Jaswinder’s brother Regan filed a writ in the Punjab and Haryana high court in October 2011. But the court said: “Such matters are in the domain of the executive arena.” However, it added: “It is the solemn duty of every government to protect its citizens.”

The shipping ministry could not even track the ship owners. “We are trying to get in touch with the ship owners through various channels,” a senior official told DNA.

The last time Jadhav managed to speak to his son, he was told about the death of two hostages from other countries. That was a year ago. “I am so tired that I don’t want to meet anyone anymore,” he told DNA. Tiwari, however, threatens to take the extreme step at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on the third anniversary of his son being held hostage.

The shipping ministry has approved disbursement of Rs50,000 per month for the families of Indians held hostage. But the money is yet to be disbursed. “Who needs money from a government that has done nothing? We just want Dheeraj to return,” said Tiwari.

Dheeraj, Swapnil, Jaswinder and the others are reduced to laminated photographs. Their families survive on help from friends. They live on hope that their children will call any moment.