Dubai shopkeeper dies of grief

Dubai: The closure of the Shindagha Market last week has dealt a fatal blow. Pakistani butcher Ghulam Shabbir died from grief just days before the shutters came down on his meat shop.

Shabbir and other traders in the traditional bazaar were told by civic officials to pack up by the end of September to make room for a retail giant.

Shabbir has left behind a wife and six children. He had run the shop for 20 years. Sources said he collapsed of a heart attack minutes after showing up for work on September 28.

"Take me home, I want to see my family," Shabir had murmured as colleagues drove him to his one-bedroom flat in Jafiliya, a relative said. They then rushed him to the emergency ward at the Iranian Hospital. The relative, on condition of anonymity, said Shabir was barely conscious. His dying words were: "How will my family survive, who will send my children to school?"

Civic authorities informed Shabbir about the closure of the market in April.

"It was too much for him to bear. Already burdened with loans and struggling to support his family, he slipped into depression. Business was drying up and his expenses were growing. He couldn't afford to send his children to school anymore. Shabir couldn't even pay for his son's dialysis treatment for kidney failure. He sent his wife and ailing son back home. Shabir was also unwell — his toes were amputated after a complication from diabetes," said the relative.

There were problems even after death. His family had to pay Dh50,000 in fines before his body could be taken back to Pakistan. The fines were imposed because his son had overstayed his student visa sponsored by him.

"Shabir was too tense, he didn't know what to do anymore," the relative said. He added that the Shindagha shopkeepers were not offered compensation for their loss. Traders said there is not enough affordable space to rent elsewhere in town.

"Landlords and other shopkeepers know we're at a disadvantage, they're asking ‘key money' of Dh100,000-plus. Is this fair?" another out-of-work trader said. "I'm too old to find another job, this was all I had."

The traditional souq was also the lifeline for several working widows and mums supporting their families. The first shop sign there on Stall No. 1 says: ‘Fatimah Abdullah, Wife of Khalid Moh'd.' A rotting pile of rubbish is all there is left of it.

Some expatriate salesmen and porters have been sent back after their visas could not be renewed following the closure, sellers said. "We have to start all over again — get new trade licences, permits, visas, shops and workers," said a shopkeeper who has been in Dubai since 1974. "This was Dubai's first market. It was the lifeline for 1,000 families, but now it's dead."