PM Abbasi offers condolences to family of Texas shooting victim Sabika Sheikh

Published May 20, 2018
The premier met Abdul Aziz Sheikh at his residence in Karachi and offered Fateha for the departed soul. —RadioPakistan
The premier met Abdul Aziz Sheikh at his residence in Karachi and offered Fateha for the departed soul. —RadioPakistan

Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Sunday visited the home of Sabika Sheikh in Karachi and offered condolences to the father of the teenage girl who was shot dead in the shooting incident at Santa Fe High School in Texas on Friday.

The premier, accompanied by Governor Sindh Mohammad Zubair, met Abdul Aziz Sheikh and offered fateha for the departed soul. "Sabika was a brilliant student and the entire nation is saddened by her death," Abbasi said.

The prime minister said, "Extremism is not the problem of any single country or region, but the whole world is affected by it."

Sabika Sheikh, a 17-year-old Pakistani scholar participating in the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) programme in the US, was one of the 10 people killed when a teenage classmate armed with a shotgun and a revolver opened fire in the Santa Fe High School in Texas on Friday.

According to her father, Sabika — the eldest among three sisters but younger than her brother — was due to return home on June 9. Her family had been counting the days till her return.

“I kept calling her and sent her messages on WhatsApp. Never before had my daughter failed to reply,” Sabika's father Abdul Aziz said. “We are still in a state of denial. It is like a nightmare.”

Hailing from Karachi, Sabika was described as a brilliant student by her father. She had completed her matriculation from Karachi Public School.

US Ambassador David Hale expressed regret at Sabika's death with the following message posted on the US Embassy Pakistan's Facebook page:

"This morning, I called the family of Sabika Sheikh and offered my deepest condolences. As an exchange student, Sabika was a youth ambassador, a bridge between our peoples and cultures. All of us at the US Mission in Pakistan are devastated by and mourn her loss. We will honour her memory."

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