DUBAI: 104000 square feet department store with 52 departments, owned by an Indian, was bummed down on April 16 in the wake of Islamic militants call for boycott of Indian businessmen in protest against demolition of Babri mosque and destruction of thousands of Muslim shops by Hindu fundamentalists in India.
Called lamcy, the store was a showpiece of Dubai, nay, the entire Arab world. It was one of the business places which had figured on the Muslim activists’ call for boycott. As many as 23 other companies owned by Indians had also been listed in this connection The list was circulated by Muslim activists through fax messages in Arabic.
The United Arab Emirate government ordered stepped up security at the Indian consulate general at Dubai following Friday’s incident. The store was owned by a Sindhi businessman, Lal Ganwani. The watchman told the police that two persons in shirts and pants were spotted by him, The fire brigade came to put out the fire within 20 minutes and fought the blaze for four and a half hours.
Unofficial estimates put the loss at Rs 2.90 crore. Earlier, Muslim protesters torched an Indian high school at Al Ain.
Article extracted from this publication >> April 23, 1993
