Hyderabad: “ We had never thought we would meet our mother in this lifetime. We are glad that we got to see our mother after 28 years,” said the two sisters from UAE who were reunited with their mother in the city on Thursday.

After seven months of struggle, Ms Ayesha Rasheed Eid Obaid alias Kanoo Rasheed and Ms Fatima Rasheed eid Obaid, who had come here searching for their biological mother, were finally united with her. The South Zone police helped the women to trace their mother, who was separated from their father more than 15 years ago.

DCP South Zone Mr V. Satyanarayana said that 60-year-old Ms Nazia Begum, a resident of Santosh Nagar, had married UAE national Mr Rasheed Eid Obaid Rifaq Masmari in 1981. They had shifted to the UAE where Ms Nazia had given birth to Ms Ayesha and Ms Fatima.

But after a few years, due to disputes with Mr Masmari’s first wife, she divorced and came back to the city, but without her daughters.

She later married again, to a man from Bidar with whom she had two sons and a daughter. In January 2016, her two estranged daughters came to Hyderabad in search of her and approached the police. The only clue they had was a photograph of Ms Nazia. But after searching for a few days, the two left with heavy hearts.

Police meanwhile had formed special teams to trace Ms Nazia and they found her whereabouts after six months. Ms Nazia, however, had very few memories of her daughters. She only recollected that her younger daughter had six fingers. Police crosschecked the identity with Ms Fatima and confirmed the relation.