Bollywood-style reunion in Dubai: Uzbek mum meets Indian son she left after birth

March 6, 2013

Bollywood-style_reunion_in_Dubai

Dubai, Mar 6: Dubai’s police described it as a plot similar to an Indian movie. The main characters are an Indian father, an Uzbek mother and their son but the setting was thousands of miles from India, taking place in Dubai and Kenya.

The ending also has a stark resemblance of that in a film but it was still not clear whether it is a happy or sad end. Perhaps the readers have to judge.

Starting from the end, an Uzbek woman who married an Indian businessman and travelled with him to Kenya in1993 was deprived of her son just three months after he was born. After a weary search saga, she reunited with him in Dubai this week with the help of Interpol and Dubai’s police but the adult son appeared not very impressed.

The story began when the Indian man travelled to Uzbekistan to pick a pretty wife in early 1990s. After a brief search, he found his target—a beautiful 17-year-old woman, who he quickly married and travelled with her to Kenya where he had business.

After they had their first son and named him Saeed, rifts erupted when she decided to add the boy to her passport. A few weeks later, the furious husband decided to get rid of her by telling her they were all going back to India.

At the airport, they boarded a flight but the man took his son and told his wife to wait in the aircraft as he forgot something at the airport. When he did not come back the pilot announced an imminent take off, she panicked, screamed and went into a hysterical fit, prompting the cabin crew to take her out of the plane.

After a while, she realised that she had been deceived by her husband and believed he took her son and travelled back to his home town of Mumbay.

Although she realised that she had lost her son, she did not give up and began a long but futile search journey. Yet she did not quit her endeavours and many years later, she decided to resort to Interpol, who located her son’s whereabouts in Dubai.

After frenzied contacts through Facebook and other social networks, she was told by a girl that she knows her son and that he studies at a university in Dubai. But she got her first shock when she contacted him and was told to leave him alone. He even threatened her against contacting his friends again.

The mother, now 37, decided then to travel to the UAE, where she stayed with a friend in Ras Al Khaimah. She then contacted the Human Rights Department in Dubai, which managed to reunite her with her son after extensive contacts.

It was like a fiction story similar to that in an Indian film,” said Colonel Mohammed Al Murr, the Department’s director. “We decided to help this woman because she looked a respected person and she would never stop crying. The first meeting with her son was difficult and extremely emotional. It was a story that moved everyone.”

The Arabic language daily Emirat Alyoum said the meeting was arranged by Lt Colonel Khaled Lootah, director of the woman and child protection department.

“It was a very dramatic meeting…when the mother went into the room and saw her son, she lost her balance and was about to faint. She then went into a weeping fit because was so happy, but her son appeared apathetic and said he was angry that she emerged in his life. She tried her best to explain that she is his biological mother but he still refused to accept that fact and looked as if he had an internal conflict,” Lootah said.

“The boy then said his father told him that his mother sold him for $6 million in Nairobi (Kenya) in return for shares in a nightclub. He said that his real mother is the woman who brought him up in India and looked after him when he was a child.”

Emirat Alyoum quoted Lootah as saying they arranged another meeting between the mother and the son and that they tried to convince the son to treat the woman as a real mother. “The boy then asked for time so he can absorb the situation. The second meeting ended in a very warm hugging by the mother of her son.”

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News Network
April 14,2024

New Delhi, Apr 14: In response to the escalating tensions between Israel and Iran, ministry of external affairs (MEA) on Sunday issued a statement expressing serious concern over the potential threat to regional peace and security.

"We are seriously concerned at the escalation of hostilities between Israel and Iran which threatens the peace and security in the region," the MEA said in the statement.

The ministry called for an immediate de-escalation of the situation, emphasizing the importance of exercising restraint and refraining from further violence. 

Stressing the need for diplomacy to prevail, India urged both parties to step back from confrontation and seek peaceful resolutions to their differences.

"We call for immediate de-escalation, exercise of restraint, stepping back from violence and return to the path of diplomacy," the MEA said. 

India, closely monitoring the evolving situation, assured that its embassies in the region are actively engaging with the Indian community, providing support and assistance as needed.

"We are closely monitoring the evolving situation. Our Embassies in the region are in close touch with the Indian community," the MEA affirmed.

Highlighting the significance of maintaining security and stability in the region, India reiterated the importance of all parties involved prioritizing peaceful dialogue and cooperative measures. "It is vital that security and stability are maintained in the region," the MEA said.

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News Network
April 7,2024

gazachildren.jpg

Israel's relentless aggression against the Gaza Strip has now stretched over six months, and shows no sign of abating despite international calls for a ceasefire.

Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime's decades-long campaign of violence against Palestinians.

At that time, the Israeli regime said attacking Gaza had two goals: eliminating Hamas and bringing back the hostages taken by the resistance group to Gaza. None of them have been achieved so far.

About 130 of the 250 Israeli captives taken during Operation Al-Aqsa Storm are still in Gaza after a provisional truce deal in December saw the exchange of a number of prisoners between the two sides.

Death toll

The conflict in Gaza has taken a devastating toll on Palestinians, with over 33,200 people, including 13,800 children, having lost their lives in 180 days of war, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.

On top of that, around 76,000 people have been wounded – about four out of every 100 people in Gaza. The Palestine Red Crescent Society said this week some 1,000 children in Gaza have lost one or both of their legs.

A record-breaking 176 UN staff members and seven foreign aid workers have been killed in Gaza since October 7.

The Israeli army has killed the largest number of journalists of any modern conflict and detained more than 24. More than 140 journalists have been killed during the six months of war in the Israeli military's raids, bombardments and missile attacks across the Gaza Strip.

The humanitarian situation in Gaza has worsened day by day as the Israeli army continues to prevent aid from reaching the region, resulting in starvation being utilized as a tactic of warfare as over a million are at risk of starvation, with international groups warning of an “imminent” famine.

At least 27 Palestinians have already died from malnutrition and dehydration, according to international NGOs.

Displacement

More than 80 percent of Gaza’s population (Over 1.9 million Palestinians) have been intentionally displaced as the Israeli military ordered Palestinians to “go south” from the start of the war.

Some 1.4 million people are believed to be sheltering in Rafah, a small city on Gaza’s southern border with Egypt which is being bombarded by the Israeli forces every day as they have left no safe zone for the Palestinians to live.

Infrastructure damage

The estimated $18.5 billion in damage has affected public service infrastructure, resulting in 26 million tons of debris and rubble.

Over 290,000 housing units, equivalent to 62 percent of all homes in Gaza, have been damaged or destroyed by the war, leaving more than a million people homeless.

Only a fraction of hospitals, 10 out of 36, are operational following severe damage, leading to overwhelming strain on their limited resources.

Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest medical facility in Gaza, has been left severely damaged and burned after enduring a relentless two-week-long siege. The compound, which witnessed the loss of at least 400 lives and the arrest of hundreds, now faces a dire situation.

With an acute shortage of medicine and healthcare professionals on the brink of exhaustion and starvation, the majority of patients in Gaza are unable to receive the treatment they desperately need.

The scarcity of resources has forced medical teams to carry out operations and amputations without the availability of anesthetic, further exacerbating the already dire circumstances.

Political resolutions

On March 6, South Africa filed an “urgent request” with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and requested for additional provisional measures issued on January 26.

In January, the ICJ ordered Israel to refrain from any acts that could fall under the Genocide Convention and ensure its troops commit no genocidal acts against Palestinians in Gaza. Israel described the genocide allegation as baseless.

On Friday, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution, calling for a halt to all arms sales to Israel, and for the regime to be held accountable for possible war crimes in the Gaza Strip.

Moreover, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution last month, demanding an “immediate ceasefire” for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The resolution is the first to be approved by the council after three previous attempts during the past five months of war were vetoed by the US.

Meanwhile, during the months of war, protests around the world have been held in support of Palestine, calling for an immediate ceasefire and halt to arms sales to Israel.

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News Network
April 14,2024

Riyadh: Saudi Arabia on Sunday expressed deep concern over the military escalation in the Middle East and urged all parties involved to exercise restraint, the Saudi Press Agency reported, citing a statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned of "serious repercussions" on the region and its peoples from the dangers of a wider war, according to SPA.

Iran on Saturday launched drones and missiles against Israel, making good its threat to retaliate against the Israeli air strike that destroyed an Iranian embassy annex building in Damascus, Syria, killing at least 13 people, including two generals of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard.

The Saudi ministry "affirmed the Kingdom’s position calling for the need for the Security Council to assume its responsibility towards maintaining international peace and security, especially in this region that is extremely sensitive to global peace and security, and to prevent the escalation of the crisis that will have serious consequences if it expands," said the SPA report. 

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