KARACHI: A Pakistani exchange student killed in a mass shooting in Texas last week was buried in her hometown of Karachi on Wednesday, her coffin draped with Pakistan’s green and white flag.
Sabika Sheikh, 17, was among eight students and two teachers killed in Texas when Santa Fe High School, southeast of Houston, on Friday joined a grim list of US schools and campuses where students and staff have been gunned down, stoking a divisive debate about gun laws.
The funeral prayers for Sabika Sheikh were offered at Karachi’s Hakeem Saeed Ground at 9am.
Security arrangements were tight at Hakeem Saeed Ground, where a number of government officials and political leaders, including Sindh Chief Minister Murad Shah, Sindh Governer Muhammad Zubair, Sindh Home Minister Sohail Anwar Siyal and hundreds of others attended her funeral prayers.
About 100 police officers were deployed at the ground, where a bomb disposal squad had conducted a sweep to ensure security for attendees.
The body of Sabika Sheikh arrived at cargo complex of Karachi airport in the wee hours on Wednesday.
The body was flown to Karachi from Houston, Texas through a private airline- TK-708- that was received by family members and officials of US Consulate at the airport.
Sabika’s father, Aziz Sheikh, and her uncle Abdul Jaleel Sheikh were also present to receive the body which was taken from the airport to her residence in Gulshan-e-Iqbal in an ambulance.
Sabika Sheikh, a 17-year-old Pakistani exchange student was among the ten killed in the school shooting which occurred in Santa Fe, Texas on Friday.
Sheikh was studying at the Santa Fe High School in Texas on a US State Department exchange programme facilitated by the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) programme.
The gunman — arrested on murder charges — was identified as Dimitrios Pagourtzis, a 17-year-old junior at Santa Fe High School. He is being held on capital murder charges, meaning that he could face the death penalty.
Earlier on Sunday, Houston’s Muslim community gathered to offer funeral prayers community in Texas which was by a large number of Pakistani Americans. The Houston Muslim community also joined in the gathering to offer the funeral service and sent her off with tears.
About 1,000 people, many with Pakistani roots and wearing traditional Muslim dress, converged on an Islamic centre in Stafford to honour the student, whose body was brought by hearse to the sombre service from Santa Fe, the nearby small rural town where a student murdered 10 people including eight students.
Among the mourners was the late teen’s first cousin who lives in the United States. She said Sheikh’s relatives are completely devastated.
“The family back home, we are in touch with them. They’re crying every moment. Her mother is in denial right now,” Shaheera al Basid, a graduate student in the US capital Washington, told AFP at the funeral service.
“It’s a shock we need our entire life to recover from,” the 26-year-old added.
Sheikh had been due to return home in mere weeks, in time for Eidul Fitr.
Sabika was described as a brilliant student by her father. She had completed her matriculation from Karachi Public School and had been an honour roll student at Santa Fe High School.
Even though she was still a teenager, her uncle said earlier, he was often amazed at how mature her thoughts were. “She often spoke about issues such as women’s rights and women empowerment. She would speak to her cousins and friends about these things, too, trying to open up their minds to issues and good causes,” he said.
“She would say herself that she was not interested in studying medicine or engineering. She wanted to fight for people’s rights. We were sure she would grow up to be a social activist,” her maternal uncle said. “Who knew she had such a short life.”
Sabika’s maternal uncle earlier, Col Haider, said that the Muslim-American family she was staying with in Texas were the first to hear about the shooting, and rushed there immediately when they heard about the shooting.
“We were looking forward to seeing her back with us this Eid after she spent almost a year in the US,” he had said.
