On what should be a time of celebration, families across Pakistan will instead be marking Eid in mourning, after their loved ones working in the Gulf were killed in the Iran conflict.

At least 23 workers from countries including Pakistan, India and Bangladesh were killed or reported missing since the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran, according to an Anadolu tally.

Muzaffar Ali, a 28-year-old from Sindh province, was among those killed when shrapnel from a missile struck his car in Dubai. He left behind three young children, the eldest just 7 years old.

“He went to Dubai four years ago in search of a better life,” his uncle Abdul Hakim told Anadolu by phone.

“He was paying off the loans he had taken from relatives for the move. The last time we spoke, he told me he had nearly paid off everything he owed. Now he could finally settle down.”

“Shrapnel wounded his face. He died at the hospital,” Hakim said. “I don’t know who will feed his family. He was the breadwinner.”

Ali was among three Pakistanis confirmed dead in the Middle East conflict. A fourth Pakistani fisherman was killed in Iranian waters after being struck by debris from an intercepted Israeli missile.

The nearly two dozen people from Asian nations killed or missing since the conflict began include six from India, four from Bangladesh, and one person each from China, Nepal and the Philippines. Three Indonesians and three Thais remain missing in waters off Oman and in the Strait of Hormuz.

Migrant workers on the front lines

Migrant workers account for nearly half the workforce in Gulf Cooperation Council countries — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — and make up the majority of the population in several of them.

They are also present in large numbers in Jordan, Lebanon, Iran and Israel, according to the Coalition on Labour Justice for Migrants in the Gulf.

Many work under the restrictive kafala, or sponsorship, system, which ties them to employers and often limits their ability to leave or even hold their own passports.

While Saudi Arabia has introduced reforms under its Vision 2030 program, similar systems remain in place elsewhere.

“This systemic lack of mobility further traps migrant workers in conflict zones, limiting their movement,” the migrant workers’ coalition says, warning that employers may withhold wages, deny leave or dismiss workers without compensation during the crisis, cutting off vital remittances to families across Asia and Africa.

Since the war began, several Gulf countries have introduced remote work and school closures as they contend with Iranian retaliatory strikes. Migrant workers, however, are far more likely to remain exposed, continuing jobs that require physical presence.

The Coalition on Labour Justice for Migrants in the Gulf also says that migrant workers are often excluded from emergency evacuation plans and denied access to shelters.

Eid without celebration

In Ganz, a small coastal village in Gwadar, the atmosphere is subdued as the family of 17-year-old Mohammad Tayyab struggles to process his death.

Tayyab, the youngest of four brothers, had left school after his father’s death to help support the family by smuggling cheaper Iranian petrol into Pakistan.

On March 7, as he returned home by boat with a helper, debris from an intercepted projectile struck their vessel in the Arabian Sea.

“I was about to break the fast when I received news that Tayyab’s boat was hit. The news fell like a bombshell,” his maternal uncle Asghar Hussain told Anadolu.

Since the start of the war, Pakistan has shut its border with Iran, cutting off livelihoods for thousands of fishermen and informal traders along Balochistan’s coast.

“We, especially Tayyab’s mother, are still struggling to overcome this shock. There will be no celebrations this Eid, just mourning,” Hussain said.

Miles away, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bannu district, 70-year-old Nadir Ali is mourning his son, Murib Zaman, who died when debris from an intercepted missile hit the building where he lived in Abu Dhabi.

Zaman, 48, had worked as a driver in the UAE for nearly eight years. A father of five, he had recently been discussing Eid preparations with his family.

“He kept asking me about Eid preparations, particularly about clothes and shoes for his daughters and son,” Nadir Ali said.

“Don’t worry about the money,” he recalled his son telling him.

“The kids were his life. Every time he called, he first asked about their health, education and well-being,” he said, fighting back tears.

“I don’t know what Eid would be without him.”

Mehran Rashid, Zaman’s would-be son-in-law, said he had spoken to him just days before his death.

“He reminded me to take the kids shopping before Eid and to the park on Eid day,” Rashid said. Now, he added, the children refuse to celebrate.

“They don’t want any new clothes or anything. They just look at pictures of their father several times a day.”