DUBAI // They were star-crossed lovers who were separated for three years when the bride was kept against her will by her father in Saudi Arabia.
But the saga had a happy ending when the couple were reunited and married in Dubai.
It is a story of love, patience and, ultimately, forgiveness.
The case of Nazia Quazi and Bjorn Singhal attracted attention when Ms Quazi, a 24-year-old Canadian of Indian origin, published an online letter calling for help in getting out of Saudi Arabia.
The case became a cause célèbre for Canadian politicians. The lobby group Human Rights Watch (HRW) sent a letter to the Saudi commissioner for human rights, urging his government to allow Ms Quazi to leave the country.
Ms Quazi and her new husband spoke yesterday of their desire to move on and forgive her parents for the separation and her suffering in Saudi Arabia.
Ms Quazi, who was educated in Canada, left for Dubai in July 2007 with the aim of marrying Mr Singhal after they met in Ottawa.
She claimed to have suffered at the hands of both parents, in her account, sometimes enduring beatings by her father.
The family objected to her marrying Mr Singhal because he was of a different caste and religion. Mr Singhal, formerly a Hindu, had converted to Islam. Ms Quazi is also a Muslim.
When the family found out that Ms Quazi was in Dubai, they arrived in the city and took her away with the promise of eventually blessing the marriage.
After three months in India, she was taken to Saudi Arabia where her father worked, before having her Canadian documents taken away for three years.
In January this year, HRW sent a letter to the chairman of Saudi Arabia's human rights commission, urging him to allow Ms Quazi to leave the kingdom.
When HRW interviewed Ms Quazi last November, she told the rights watchdog that all of her identification - including her passport, driver's licence and credit cards - had been taken from her by her father. When she approached the human rights commission, she was told to respect her father's desire to protect her.
She also told HRW that Canadian embassy officials could not provide her with a limited validity passport because her only identification was a photocopy of a passport, and, in any case, her father's authorisation was required for her to leave the country.
Her father had a "change of heart", Ms Quazi recalled, fuelled by worries that his daughter was getting older.
"He wanted me to be happy, so he got me a ticket to come here. And both my parents really wanted me to get settled down and married," she said.
"When I actually saw it happening I started believing in them and trusting them," she added.
When her parents started telling her that they would let her travel to Dubai, she said she did not believe them at first, and she was playing along to see how far it would go.
When she finally reached Dubai in the early morning on May 10, her emotions almost got the better of her.
"Oh, I was dying to actually hold him or hug him really hard, but I couldn't because of family values, and now that we're actually married it's really nice. I still can't believe it. I keep pinching myself and I keep pinching him."
Looking back at the time that she was held in Saudi Arabia, Ms Quazi said: "I actually forgot what freedom was. I was for three years in that closed environment.
"Dubai is a place that's completely open. You can go to movie theatres."
She said the most difficult thing she faced during her battle was the wait.
"The hardest part was to wait for something to happen, that's what really killed me."
That wait was punctuated with fleeting contact with Mr Singhal over the internet.
Still, Ms Quazi does not regret the experience.
"I have come out as a very strong person. I don't know what's going to happen in the future, but I know for sure that I will be able to handle [it]."
Even with her parents' blessing, the process was arduous. After arriving in the UAE on May 10, the couple had to undergo medical exams that took days to complete, before holding a wedding and reception on Monday.
"It was more than I expected. We had a blast and her parents joined us during the dance," said Mr Singhal, who works as a flight operations supervisor in Sharjah.
Mr Singhal, 29, has few regrets over the lost three years, except the passing of his father.
"I am sad my father who passed away wasn't here today," he said. Still, his father-in-law's new-found love is adequate for now.
"He told me on the day of the wedding, "You are like my son, I put everything aside."
kshaheen@thenational.ae
* With additional reporting by Haneen Dajani and Marten Youssef
MATCH INFO
Tottenham 4 (Alli 51', Kane 50', 77'. Aurier 73')
Olympiakos 2 (El-Arabi 06', Semedo')
The specs: Lamborghini Aventador SVJ
Price, base: Dh1,731,672
Engine: 6.5-litre V12
Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 770hp @ 8,500rpm
Torque: 720Nm @ 6,750rpm
Fuel economy: 19.6L / 100km
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: SimpliFi
Started: August 2021
Founder: Ali Sattar
Based: UAE
Industry: Finance, technology
Investors: 4DX, Rally Cap, Raed, Global Founders, Sukna and individuals
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Closing the loophole on sugary drinks
As The National reported last year, non-fizzy sugared drinks were not covered when the original tax was introduced in 2017. Sports drinks sold in supermarkets were found to contain, on average, 20 grams of sugar per 500ml bottle.
The non-fizzy drink AriZona Iced Tea contains 65 grams of sugar – about 16 teaspoons – per 680ml can. The average can costs about Dh6, which would rise to Dh9.
Drinks such as Starbucks Bottled Mocha Frappuccino contain 31g of sugar in 270ml, while Nescafe Mocha in a can contains 15.6g of sugar in a 240ml can.
Flavoured water, long-life fruit juice concentrates, pre-packaged sweetened coffee drinks fall under the ‘sweetened drink’ category
Not taxed:
Freshly squeezed fruit juices, ground coffee beans, tea leaves and pre-prepared flavoured milkshakes do not come under the ‘sweetened drink’ band.
UJDA CHAMAN
Produced: Panorama Studios International
Directed: Abhishek Pathak
Cast: Sunny Singh, Maanvi Gagroo, Grusha Kapoor, Saurabh Shukla
Rating: 3.5 /5 stars
The biog
Title: General Practitioner with a speciality in cardiology
Previous jobs: Worked in well-known hospitals Jaslok and Breach Candy in Mumbai, India
Education: Medical degree from the Government Medical College in Nagpur
How it all began: opened his first clinic in Ajman in 1993
Family: a 90-year-old mother, wife and two daughters
Remembers a time when medicines from India were purchased per kilo
