Rejoice, tears in the eyes and gathering of villagers, friends and relatives are all that a Muslim family in Ali witnessed on Friday. It all happened as their lad, Mohmmed Iftekar Amir, returned home safely from the war-ravaged Yemen. Thirty-two-year-old Amir had been working as a pharmacy manager at the Algarash Pharmacy Private ltd in Sana’a for the last nine years. He was leading comfort life with a monthly salary of around Rs 60,000 until civil war started in Yemen between the Houthis and the Saudi forces. From then, life became miserable for him. Recounting his harrowing tale in Yemen, Amir said he along with several Indians were panicked and had lost hope that they would ever come back to their family members. “Though Sana’a was free from trouble, yet the sound of bombardment and firing were heard every night. We had to spend sleeplessness nights with fear as a sense of life threat loomed over our fate,” quipped Amir.
“I was staying with my wife and two sons at Sana’a. In December, I sent them back to India after the war erupted and I stayed back to continue in job. I left Yemen on Wednesday with nothing and reached my native village on Friday, thanks to Union Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh for bringing us back to India,” Amir said.
Tears filled in the eyes of Abdul Qudus, the septuagenarian father of Yemen returnee, Amir. “I will not send my son again to out of the country for work,” said Qudus. However, Amir didn’t deny going back to Yemen altogether. “I have become jobless. I am praying before the Almighty for restoration of normalcy in Yemen. later, I would decide whether I will to go to Yemen or not,” said he.
He expressed his unhappiness that neither the State Government nor the district administration did a little to help him come back home. According to information, three more youths belonging to different districts also returned to Odisha from Yemen on Friday.