Dubai: Can anyone help these NRI sisters trace their mother?

January 11, 2016

Hyderabad, Jan 11: Two sisters from Dubai made an unusual request on Saturday when they called on V Satyanarayana, deputy commissioner of Hyderabad Police’s south zone. Could the police help them find their mother, whom they hadn’t met for 27 years? The only lead they could provide the officer was a faded photograph and an Indian passport, issued in 1981 and barely legible.

DubaiAyesha and Fatima, 33 and 32, last saw their mother when their father divorced her in 1988 and sent her back to Hyderabad, her hometown. They said they knew nothing else about her, because their father while alive had allegedly forbidden them to talk about her.

Their father Rasheed Obaid Masmary, a Dubai businessman, had married their mother Razia Sayeed in 1981, the marriage arranged by brokers. Rasheed arranged for his bride’s passport, issued by the erstwhile Madras Passport Office, and the couple settled in Dubai.

Ayesha was born a year after the marriage, Fatima the following year. After Rasheed divorced Razia in 1988, allegedly without legal proceedings, the daughters stayed with their father in Dubai. A couple of years later, Rasheed married a second time — the bride was again a Hyderabadi woman — and she settled with him in Dubai.

Ayesha and Fatima never saw their mother since 1988, when they were six and five, too young to remember much about her now. This is their first visit to Hyderabad. Their father never travelled here again although their stepmother would visit home sometimes. Rasheed died a few years ago, apparently without telling his two daughters who or where their mother was.

“Our father had cut off all contact with our mother and never told us anything about her,” said Ayesha. The sisters, fluent in Arabic, are communicating in broken English with people in Hyderabad.

“Except for a photo and a vague, almost illegible handwritten address on her passport, we know nothing about our mother. We don’t even know which part of Hyderabad she was from, or if she has any family here,” Ayesha said. “Our stepmother possibly knows about her but she has refused to tell us anything. We saw some posts on social media about the work done by Hyderabad police in tracing people, so we thought we will try too. Years have passed but we are hopeful we will get to meet her.”

Ayesha, who is married in Dubai, said her businessman husband supported her effort to search for their mother. The sisters flew to Hyderabad last week. They had made calls to police from Dubai earlier but, in the absence of local contacts, they could not make much headway. In Hyderabad, they came in touch with a local activist, Mohammed Abrar Sharif, who took them to the DCP.

The photo has been circulated among police stations. Police said they will try to trace the old address from the passport office in Chennai if those records are still available.

Comments

Naren kotian
 - 
Tuesday, 12 Jan 2016

result of contract marriages as per prefect manual :) hahaha ...pay 2 lakhs , marry 16 year old gal and stay with her for 2-3 months and later escape by giving talakh ... munchene sign bere ...shake bandre shake hand kottu airport nalle welcome maadi karkondu hogi hudugi na kottu madwe maadsi shake baby annistha idranthe howda ... hahahaha .. these saudis exploit innocent women from one particular community and sexcual abuse is very much high .. I have seen many ... papa hudugirna nodidre ayyo papa annisthade ...ummah gang help maadri ...

aharkul
 - 
Monday, 11 Jan 2016

Allahu Musta'an. Allah knows the best. We all pray for you sister to get your mother soon...

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
April 8,2020

Riyadh, Apr 8: Saudi Arabia's health minister has warned the number of COVID-19 cases in the country could reach 200,000 in coming weeks.

As of Tuesday, the kingdom registered a total of 2,795 coronavirus infections, including 41 deaths.

"Within the next few weeks, studies predict the number of infections will range from a minimum of 10,000 to a maximum of 200,000," health minister Tawfiq al-Rabiah was cited as saying by the official Saudi Press Agency on Tuesday.

On Monday, Saudi Arabia extended the duration of daily curfews in four governorates and five cities to 24 hours.

The kingdom imposed round-the-clock lockdowns in the capital Riyadh, Tabuk, Dammam, Dhahran and Hofuf, the interior ministry said on Twitter.

The same measures were also imposed on the governorates of Jeddah, Taif, Qatif and Khobar, the ministry added.

Authorities had already sealed off the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, barring people from entering and exiting as well as prohibiting movement between all provinces.

Last month, Saudi Arabia suspended the year-round "Umrah" pilgrimage over fears of the coronavirus pandemic spreading to Islam's holiest cities.

Authorities are yet to announce whether they will proceed with this year's Hajj, scheduled for the end of July. Last week, authorities urged Muslims to temporarily defer preparations for the annual pilgrimage.

Last year, about 2.5 million people travelled to Saudi Arabia to take part in the Hajj, which all Muslims must perform at least once in their lives if able.

The Arab world's biggest economy has also closed down cinemas, malls and restaurants and halted flights as it steps up efforts to contain the virus.

King Salman has warned of a "more difficult" fight ahead against the virus, as the kingdom faces the economic double blow of virus-led shutdowns and crashing oil prices

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
April 26,2020

Abu Dhabi, Apr 26: Indian Ambassador to the UAE Pavan Kapoor says he is appalled after the bodies of three Indians flown back to India were returned to Abu Dhabi on Friday.

The three deceased Indian nationals had died of non-coronavirus causes and were flown to Delhi on Thursday but were promptly returned by authorities there.

“We are appalled at what has happened,” Kapoor told Gulf News. “We do not know if the bodies were returned because of coronavirus-related restrictions, but we are obviously not sending the remains of people [who have passed away from COVID-19],” he added.

“[As we understand], it happened because of new protocols at the airport and we are trying to sort it out,” he said.

Sent back a few hours later

“The remains were not offloaded from the plane, and were sent back a few hours later,” Kapoor explained.

The deceased were Kamlesh Bhatt, who passed away on April 17, and Sanjeev Kumar and Jagsir Singh who both died on April 13.

According to reports in Indian media, Kamlesh Bhat was 23 years old, and hailed from Tehri Garhwal district. He allegedly died of cardiac arrest. Along with the remains Kumar and Singh, Bhatt’s body was initially repatriated on an Etihad Airways flight, then sent back, even though his relatives had been on their way to collect them.

Kapoor explained the procedure through which remains are normally returned to family members back home, saying that the worker’s employer typically makes arrangements with cargo companies to repatriate bodies on cargo aircraft.

The employer applies for a No Objection Certificate from the Indian Embassy, which is granted once the Embassy ensures that all local formalities have been completed. The cargo company then applies for airport clearance, and the airline obtains approvals from the receiving airport.

“If airport protocols have changed, it means cargo companies have to be more careful about the clearance they’re getting,” Kapoor advised.

Additional costs
The ambassador added there may eventually be additional costs to repatriate the bodies but that it is first necessary to sort out the concerns.

The global coronavirus outbreak has spawned difficulties in repatriating mortal remains as a result of the travel restrictions imposed by countries. Remains of people dying from COVID-19 are not being sent back, but the caution surrounding the handling of bodies often affects the repatriation of those who succumb to other causes.

As Gulf News reported, Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan reached out to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday for intervention in bringing back the bodies of Keralites who have died in the Gulf from non-COVID-19 causes.

“I would like to draw your attention to the grievances received from Non-resident Keralites Associations (NRKs) in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries on the delay caused in bringing home the mortal remains of NRKs who had expired due to reasons other than the COVID-19 infection,” read the letter by the CM.

“It is learnt that a ‘clearance certificate’ from the Indian Embassies is required to process the application of bringing home the mortal remains of the dead. The Embassies are [further] insisting on the production of a no-objection certificate from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), New Delhi. To enable to bring back the bodies of the NRIs whose deaths occurred due to reasons other than COVID-19 infection, without necessary procedural hassles, I request your kind intervention,” Vijayan has requested.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
June 20,2020

Riyadh, Jun 20: Saudi Arabia will end a nationwide curfew and lift restrictions on businesses from Sunday morning after three months of lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus, state news agency SPA quoted a source in the interior ministry as saying on Saturday.

The curfew will be lifted as of 6 AM local time on Sunday. Restrictions will remain, however, for religious pilgrimages, international travel and social gatherings of more than 50 people.

The kingdom introduced stringent measures to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus in March, including 24-hour curfews on most towns and cities.

In May, it announced a three-phase plan to ease restrictions on movement and travel, culminating in the curfew completely ending on June 21.

The number of coronavirus infections has risen in recent weeks following a relaxation of movement and travel restrictions on May 28.

The kingdom has recorded 154,223 cases of COVID-19 and a total of 1,230 deaths, the highest in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council.

Saudi Arabia plans to limit numbers at the annual haj pilgrimage to prevent a further outbreak of coronavirus cases, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier this month.

Some 2.5 million pilgrims visit the holiest sites of Islam in Mecca and Medina for the week-long haj, a once-in-a-lifetime duty for every able-bodied Muslim who can afford it. Saudi Arabia asked Muslims in March to put haj plans on hold and suspended the umrah pilgrimage until further notice.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.