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When a Dubai resident heard a driver had been hit by burning debris from an Iranian strike, he did not imagine he had lost a childhood friend.
Muzaffar Ali Ghulam, 27, was killed when wreckage from an aerial interception fell on to his vehicle as he drove under a bridge in Dubai’s Al Barsha area on March 7, said Masood Ahmed, his friend and brother-in-law.
“Why did the fire fall on his car? Why was it his car? Look at his fate. He told me he was going to meet a friend and he never came back,” a weeping Mr Ahmed, 33, told The National.
“We had heard there was an attack and a Pakistani had died but I didn’t know it was my relative.”
Dreams for family
Mr Ghulam, from Hyderabad, Pakistan, was a domestic worker in Dubai and also worked as a driver. He lived with Mr Ahmed in the Al Lisaili area. The men are related and grew up together in Pakistan, where Mr Ghulam married Mr Ahmed’s younger sister.
“He spoke of going home for Eid as he had not seen his family for two years,” Mr Ahmed said. “We were together an hour before this happened. But instead he was taken away from us.”
Mr Ghulam moved to Dubai about four years ago as he wanted to build a life for his wife and three children, aged one to seven-years old.
“He was a quiet man, did not bother anyone and had dreams for his family,” Mr Ahmed said. “I’ve known him from the time he was a child. He wanted his girls to become doctors. He wanted to put the children in good schools.”
Searching for answers
Mr Ghulam is among six civilians killed in Iran’s missile and drone attacks on the UAE. Those killed include three residents from Pakistan, one from Palestine and one each from Bangladesh and Nepal.
Mr Ghulam was buried in his hometown on March 11. His family is distraught and searching for answers that Mr Ahmed cannot provide.
“It’s a very difficult time. My sister asks me why I allowed him to go alone but he was only going to see a friend,” Mr Ahmed said. “We didn’t know this was Allah’s plan, that this was his fate.
“Muzaffar and I would always talk about building a house near each other. He stayed in a rented house and wanted to get his own home. His family is my family and we will take care of each other.”
Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, has offered his condolences to the families of civilians killed in Iran’s attacks on the UAE.
The UAE government has strongly criticised the attacks and targeting of civilians by Iran. Since the start of the war on February 28, UAE air defence forces have dealt with more than 320 ballistic missiles, 15 cruise missiles and more than 1,600 drones.
The Pakistan Embassy in Abu Dhabi said it was “profoundly saddened” by the death of its citizen in Dubai’s Al Barsha area “due to falling debris following the interception of an incoming missile”.
Officials from the embassy and consulate are in contact with local authorities and have extended support to the bereaved families.
“In this hour of grief, we share in the family’s pain and offer our most sincere prayers,” the embassy said.
