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...

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Agencies
May 7,2020

Dubai, May 7: Indians in the UAE have voiced scepticism about a "massive" operation announced by New Delhi to bring home some of the hundreds of thousands of nationals stranded by coronavirus restrictions.

"It is just propaganda," said Ishan, an Indian expatriate in Dubai, one of seven emirates in the UAE and long a magnet for foreign workers.

He was reacting to his government's announcement this week that it would deploy passenger jets and naval ships to bring home citizens stuck in a host of countries.

India's consulate in Dubai said it received about 200,000 requests from nationals seeking repatriation -- mostly workers who have lost their jobs in the pandemic.

One vessel was heading to the UAE, India's government said, while two flights were scheduled to depart the UAE for India on Thursday.

But the plans drew scorn from Ishan, who was a manager at a luxury services company before he was made redundant last month.

"It's like throwing a dog a bone," the 35-year-old complained on Wednesday, dismissing the Indian government's efforts as a drop in the ocean.

"Let's say they repatriate 400 people on the first day, and about 5,000 people in 10 days, what difference has it made?"

India banned all incoming commercial flights in late March as it imposed one of the world's strictest lockdowns to tackle the spread of coronavirus.

The UAE is home to a 3.3-million-strong Indian community, who make up around 30 per cent of the Gulf state's population.

To the anger of some Indian expatriates, the evacuees will have to pay for their passage home and spend two weeks in quarantine on arrival.

"We are upset over the failure of our government," Ishan said. "What about the people with no money? How are you helping them?"

The Indian consulate could not be reached for comment.

Ibrahim Khalil, head of the Kerala Muslim Cultural Center in Dubai, said the consulate had asked him to select 100 Indian nationals for repatriation.

"We are planning to pay for the tickets of those who cannot afford it," he said, adding that the elderly, pregnant and those suffering from illnesses were a priority.

But one Indian woman, eight months pregnant in the neighbouring emirate of Sharjah, was not one of the lucky ones chosen to go back home in one of Thursday's planned departures.

"We called them but nobody would pick up," the 26-year-old, who requested anonymity, told AFP.

She arrived in the UAE a few months ago to visit her husband, who lives in a shared apartment with another family to save money.

"We have no insurance here and the medical expenses are too costly," said the woman, who was anxious to leave to give birth at home.

"I just hope that I am chosen to go back to India. I don't know why I haven't been considered."

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News Network
May 4,2020

Dubai, May 4: An Indian salesman in the UAE has won a whopping 10 million dirhams at an Abu Dhabi draw, a media report said.

Dileep Kumar Ellikkottil Parameswaran, from Kerala’s Thrissur, works with an auto spare parts company in Ajman and earns 5,000 dirhams (USD 1,361) a month, Gulf News reported on Sunday.

Parameswaran, who won the 10 million dirhams (USD 2.7 million) prize at the Big Ticket draw in Abu Dhabi, will spend a big part of the money to repay a loan of 700,000 dirhams (USD 190,574 ), according to the report.

He said that a good part of the prize money will be spent on the education of his two children.

Parameswaran, who has been a resident of the UAE for 17 years, lives in Ajman along with his family.

Big Ticket is the largest and longest-running monthly raffle draw for cash prizes and dream luxury cars in Abu Dhabi.

A live monthly draw is organized at the Abu Dhabi International Airport on 3rd of each month.

Tickets are sold for 500 dirhams (USD 136).

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News Network
January 7,2020

Tehran, Jan 7: Iranian state television says 35 people have been killed and 50 others injured in a stampede that erupted at a funeral procession for a general slain in a US airstrike.

The TV says the stampede erupted in Kerman, the hometown of Gen. Qassem Soleimani where the procession was underway on Tuesday.

A procession in Tehran on Monday drew over 1 million people in the Iranian capital, crowding both main thoroughfares and side streets in Tehran.

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