Travel chaos: Indians offloaded from flight to Dubai
Ambassador says he has asked the Indian government to allow travel on visit visas
When he was among the first Indians to get a tourist visa issued by Dubai last week, Nihal Mubarack looked forward to joining his parents and siblings in the UAE.
However, his joy was shortlived. The medical student stranded in Kerala was offloaded from the flight to Dubai at Calicut International Airport minutes before boarding on Tuesday night.
Also offloaded was Shamna Kasim, a young pharmacist, who was going to join her husband and family in the UAE.
Speaking over phone to Gulf News, Nihal said he was issued a boarding pass and received immigration clearance. However, when he was in the lounge near the boarding gate, the airline staff told Nihal and Shamna, who was also travelling on a tourist visa, that they cannot board.
“Immigration officials suddenly informed the airline staff that they cannot allow us to fly,” Nihal said, adding that the duo was then asked to return to the departure area where their boarding passes and immigration stamps were cancelled.
“We tried to argue that the UAE Government has no issue in letting us fly into the country and I even showed them the Gulf News report that featured my story. But they said the Indian government is not allowing people on tourist and visit visas to fly to the UAE,” Nihal said.
Families shocked
Both Nihal’s father Dr Mubarack Valiyakath and Shamna’s father-in-law Abdul Jabbar said the families were pained at the way the immigration officials “offloaded their children as if they are terrorists or criminals”.
Indian Ambassador to the UAE, Pavan Kapoor told Gulf News he was sad to hear about the incident. “I have recommended to the government of India that they should consider allowing Indians with visit visas to also be allowed to travel to Dubai. I am hoping that they will consider it positively soon, but till then there is nothing we can do to help.”