Body of Pakistani teenager killed in Texas school shooting arrives in Karachi

Team Udayavani, May 23, 2018, 12:18 PM IST

Karachi: The funeral prayers were today offered here for a 17-year-old Pakistani exchange student killed in a mass shooting at Santa Fe High School in Texas after her body arrived in the port city of Karachi.

Sabika Sheikh was among 10 students and staff who were killed on Friday at Santa Fe High School. The alleged shooter is 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis, who is being held on capital murder charges.

The prayers were offered today at Karachi’s Hakeem Saeed Ground. She will be laid to rest at the Azimpura graveyard in Shah Faisal Colony, Dawn reported.

The body of the teenager arrived at cargo complex of Karachi airport this morning from Houston, Texas through a private Turkish airline- TK708. The body was received by family members and officials of U.S. Consulate at the airport, it said.

Sabika, a Karachi teenager, was studying at Santa Fe High School in Texas on a U.S. State Department scholarship under the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) programme.

She had been attending classes at the school since August last, and said that getting accepted into a U.S. programme to study was the best thing that ever happened to her.

Sabika, the eldest of three sisters, was to return home in Pakistan in three weeks, by Eid ul-Fitr. Her host family said their time with her was “such a precious gift.”

A memorial service was held for the young woman at a mosque Sunday night in Stafford. A memorial of flowers and messages for Sabika has been grown outside of the high school.

Meanwhile, her father Abdul Aziz Sheikh, has urged U.S. President Donald Trump to take action.

Her family was notified on Friday that Sabika was one of the 10 killed at the hands of a gunman inside of Sante Fe High School. Mr. Sheikh now has a strong message for the president.

“I would like to say to the Trump administration, kindly stop this type of incident,” Mr. Sheikh said.

He called on Trump to reform gun laws in the name of his daughter. “You can make rules and law and you can amend your Constitution and change the law of guns, kindly take serious action on this.” Mr. Sheikh said.