Dubai: His voice hangs heavy on the phone. “Yes,” Mohammad Abdul Razaq says. “It is me.”
His duty is an onerous one.
Working at Union House in Dubai, Razaq is responsible for raising and lowering the green, white, black and red flag of the UAE on the 120-metre pole.
It was here, on December 2, 1971, that the UAE was formed, with 21 people present in the office of Shaikh Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, then Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
And it was here, on Friday, that Mohammad went with a heavy heart to lower the flag — 45 young men who serve that green, white, black and red flag of the UAE were dead, killed by a surface-to-surface missile fired at their base in Marib province, Yemen.
“It’s my duty to lower the flag,” the 25-year-old bachelor told Gulf News on Saturday. “They are the same age as me, many of them, I’m sure. It makes me sad, but I am also very proud of them. They are martyrs for the nation and I remember them when I look at the flag.”
Twice prior to Friday, Mohammad has had to perform his duty of lowering that huge UAE flag — the second-largest in the nation — in honour of martyrs.
“I could not believe the news that there were 45 dead,” he said. “They died serving the UAE and every time I look at that flag, I think of them.”
The flag flies over Jumeirah, and other green, white, black and red flags along the busy thoroughfare too are now lowered, honouring those who died in Marib.
Right now, the Union House complex is a building site, and the future home of the Etihad Museum — the museum of the union. It is due to be completed in 14 months, in time to be opened for the nation turning 45.
Security guard Arshad Hameed from Peshawar, Pakistan, can’t help, but reflect on the sacrifice of the 45 martyrs.
“I look out on the flag at half staff all day,” he said. “These men are heroes. They are shaheed [martyrs]. They died serving this country. We must always remember them.”
