Eight months ago, on February 25, Vineet Kishore Mishra boarded the general cargo ship ‘KEVER’ as chief officer. After travelling through maritime routes involving Iran and Oman, the ship reached Karachi port in Pakistan on April 17.
And since then, Vineet, along with five other Indians, has been stranded at the port with no clarity on his return home.
His contract and visa have expired but he has not been ‘signed off’ from the vessel. Vineet’s family has been running from pillar to post, appealing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to bring him back home safely. “He was on a contract for six months, ending in August. No arrangements have been made for his journey back home. There is no power on the ship. Neha, along with her father-in-law, has approached several state and central authorities but all efforts have been in vain.
“My son tells me they are given two biscuits in the morning, lunch comes at 4 pm, and dinner at around 11 pm.
He is not permitted to disembark,” Neha said. They are living in the dark,” said Vineet’s father, Lalit Kishore Mishra. She said they are offered assurances, but nothing moves on the ground.
“We have written to the government, but no action has been taken to help them. We want him to return safely to his home. We appeal to PM Modi, Yogi Adityanath, the Ministry of External Affairs to help us bring Vineet back home. I have two small kids. They cry for their father,” she added. “In the last four days we have visited the Prime Minister’s office, the President’s office and even the Ministry of External Affairs. Subsequently, the power supply to the ship was cut off, and everyone’s passports were confiscated.
We have submitted our application,” said army veteran Lalit Mishra. The ship was seized immediately upon arrival in Karachi following a dispute between an Iranian company and the authorities at the port, according to the family.
