Graceful Sendoff For Pakistani Sabika Sheikh Student Killed In Texas Shooting

Sabika Sheikh was remembered fondly by her colleagues, government officials and the Pakistani American community at her funeral, with Mayor of Houston noting that she had achieved her dream of being a diplomat by pulling together two countries

WASHINGTON, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st May, 2018 ) :Sabika Sheikh was remembered fondly by her colleagues, government officials and the Pakistani American community at her funeral, with Mayor of Houston noting that she had achieved her dream of being a diplomat by pulling together two countries.

The 17-year-old girl from Karachi was studying in Texas and had come to the United States through a State Department-funded programme with a dream to serve Pakistan's foreign ministry as a diplomat.

But, her dreams were shattered when another teenager opened fire in a school she was studying in, killing nine students and a teacher, among them the Pakistani girl who left a lasting impression during her brief stay in the United States.

In a front-page story by the Washington Post, the paper said that she was excited to leave behind the threats posed by extremists at home to experience a country that represented all that was possible, but became victim of violence in school that has claimed many lives this year in similar attacks.

Her funeral, attended by several thousand people, was the first of all the victims, who had barely known the American culture and became the victim of the country's most divisive issues - the epidemic of school shooting, the paper wrote.

Grieving for the young student was stretched from the mosque to many churches near her Santa Fe High School where people mourned her death. The Governor of Texas attended a morning prayers at a Baptist church close to the school, while similar services were held in other churches.

The Mayor of Huston ordered all flags in town to be flown at half-staff to pay homage to the Pakistani girl. People poured into the mosque to share their grief over the ghastly incident. "I'm aghast! People come here because they are told there is peace here.

You have the right to be protected here. It's why I came. But to have this happen not in India or Pakistan, but here? We have gotten off track. And it's been going on too long," said the 60-year-old Abdul Khatri.

Sabika's host family attended the funeral at the mosque with the mother covering her hair with the red prayer shawl that Sabika had given her as a Mother's Day gift. Sabika's host father remembered how his family had fasted with her during Ramadan.