Islamabad, Pakistan – When Ayesha Ameen was leaving her house last week for a chore, her three-year-old daughter Zimal tugged at her sleeve and asked if she was finally going to the airport to pick up her father.

“How do you tell a three-year-old that her father is held captive and cannot come home?” Ayesha, 26, told Al Jazeera. “How can anybody answer that?”

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Zimal’s father, Ameen bin Shams, 29, has been held hostage on board an oil tanker off the coast of Somalia for nearly two weeks. He is among 10 Pakistani sailors in the 17-member crew of the MT Honour 25, seized by Somali pirates on April 21.…