1431 Bangla new year started with good news. On the first morning of the Bengali year, the countrymen learned that 23 Bangladeshi sailors who were held hostage in the sea had been freed. The Somali pirates had to leave them behind. Bangladeshis will now travel by sea to the United Arab Emirates and return to the country by air from there.
A big milestone was cut in the release of these 23 Bangladeshi citizens. People's lives were saved; the honor of the country was saved. Diplomatic efforts, foresight have all won. Instead of resorting to the use of force through a third party, Bangladesh has chosen the path of bringing people's lives back to safety with utmost importance. Ransom was discussed here from the beginning. After the beautiful resolution of this incident, there is a discussion about whether anything ransom has happened at all, and if so, how much it is in terms of money, although I consider this discussion to be inconclusive. Because there is no question of national interest, there is nothing to increase honor. There is only a great interest of a large class of audience-viewers-readers; but this interest is not important in national interest or otherwise.
If the families of the affected sailors would have suffered financially in the process of releasing the Bangladeshis, then it would have been logical to discuss it. If public funding was involved, it would have been necessary to discuss that, but there is none of that in the process. So why this discussion, so much discussion?
It is a matter of common sense that insurance companies have various involvements in such transportation or journeys. There should be no exception here. If the insurance company is involved in the release, it is their business side. I don't see the need for fancy story trappings on this business side.
Bangladesh had to spend 50 lakh dollars to release 23 Bangladeshis. Several media outlets in the country have published reports citing the two pirates. The Reuters report claims that a pirate told them the ransom money arrived two days ago. Then they checked them for fakes. After confirming the original currency, they divided it among themselves. Some media reported that three sacks of money were thrown into the water by helicopter. The subject is very cinematic. In the report, the description of the scene of the movie is delusional! However, several movies have already been made about Somali pirates. Maybe some people are saying that in accordance with a scene of all those movies. Because the owner of the ship, KSRM, did not say on their own that they paid the ransom.
Bangladesh State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury denied the ransom payment. The state minister's position is logical. From his position, the issue of ransom cannot be accepted or denied. He said, "The government has no information about paying ransom for the rescue of ships and sailors."
After the release of the sailors in a press conference on Sunday, Chief Executive Officer of KSRM Group Mehrul Karim said, 'Somalia, Kenya, United Kingdom and the United States have agreed to release the sailors according to the rules of these four countries. Everything has ended legally. But according to the terms of the agreement, we cannot disclose many things. There is nothing to disclose all the terms of the agreement. There may be things here that may affect future trades. It is also unreasonable to argue about it.
The state minister did not say that the KSRM authorities did not say that they paid a ransom of 50 lakh dollars. So we should refrain from trying to establish this amount of the alleged ransom because if the issue of ransom is established, the cost of such a sum by sea will be established. Being attacked by pirates in the deep sea and being rescued with money will become the norm. In the future, someone here will want to take a new opportunity. Can we not get out of here?
To give an example, a few years ago another ship of the same company was hijacked by Somali pirates. After one hundred days, the ship and sailors were rescued. There was still such a ransom issue. This hostage incident has been followed by an over-discussion of the previous incident, and it is doubtful whether that over-discussion was influential here.
A state minister, the officials of an organization cannot say that they freed the Bangladeshi hostages with ransom. The position they are in is a responsible position, their speech is institutionally responsible speech; If we understand that, if they were to accept the issue of ransom, what would be the effect, if we understand that, then we should also understand that it is improper to establish ransom. Attempting this is undesirable. Let us try to practice the same responsibility that we expect from others without dragging the matter unnecessarily.
Eight pirates have been arrested after leaving the Bangladeshi hostages - just try to understand this news, Bangladesh did not talk about it. It continued maximum diplomatic efforts to ensure the safety of its citizens. These diplomatic efforts resulted in the arrest of the pirates. This successful attempt of Bangladesh to call the life and injustice of the Bangladeshi hostage is commendable.
It took 100 days to rescue Jahanmani; it took only 32 days to free MV Abdullah. Congratulations to the free Bangladeshis, thanks to all parties including the government.