One of the students who lost their lives recently was Sabika Sheikh in Texas, during the recent school shooting in Santa Fe, Texas. The town near Houston, saw a deadly shooting just months after a similar deadly attack happened in Florida. During the shooting in Santa Fe, a young man opened fire on his high school campus and killed 10 people, injuring another 10.
Sabika Sheikh from Pakistan was one of the unfortunate victims of the terrorist attack in Texas
She was on a foreign exchange program by Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) program since August 21, 2017, and was due to return home next month. 17 year old Sabika was a resident of Karachi, originally, and had been studying at Karachi Public School. She was the eldest of three sisters.
It is still so very hard to believe that [Sabika is dead],” her father said, according to Geo News. “Sabika was going to come home on June 9.”
One of her friends, George Lăpădat, posted about Sabika on Facebook saying, “when she left for this trip, she was supposed to be gone for 10 months… but now she is gone forever. And if this is not enough to prove that something is wrong and something needs to change, I don’t know what else would be. May her soul Rest In Peace!”
As soon as news of Sabika being one of the victims of the deadly shooting in Texas became apparent, Pakistanis have been showing their grief social media
Heartbreaking. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those who lost their loved ones in this terrible terrible incident. Sabika Sheikh RIP https://t.co/NlBjx1vaqU
— Maleeha Lodhi (@LodhiMaleeha) May 19, 2018
Many are condemning the rampant gun violence in the United States
Pakistanis send their best & brightest to the US & we’re sending this one back in a body bag. It’s hard to convince Pakistani parents on letting their young girls live abroad. This is going to make things harder. Please don’t come here until we get our laws in order #SabikaSheikh pic.twitter.com/kcph4wCgYD
— Ayesha Malik (@Spishaa) May 19, 2018
https://twitter.com/chaudhry_nabeel/status/997599779566817280
https://twitter.com/ThePakistanGuy/status/997717734116003840
Americans are taking this opportunity to hold the National Rifle Association, the apparent face of promoting the easy access of guns to American civilians, accountable for the murder of Sabika Sheikh
Look in the smiling face of #SabikaSheikh & weep. She came to our country to learn & we're sending her home in a box. Her blood is on the hands of @NRA & @realDonaldTrump who call Muslims terrorists but protect white US terrorists with guns. #SantaFe #GunControlNow @Emma4Change pic.twitter.com/njr1IhVYoP
— Rev. Fred Small (@revfredsmall) May 19, 2018
This person said she’s thankful she was never selected on a program to go to the US to study
https://twitter.com/FarwaShahAnchor/status/997609503913803776
This one raises a very pertinent question about the intensity of reaction to death of students, and people in general, here in Pakistan
I wonder how the world would have reacted to it if it happened in Pakistan .. #Texas pic.twitter.com/CYCpzmVbSM
— 🇵🇸🕊️ (@Ha_ph_ca) May 19, 2018
The death of Sabika Sheikh in Texas school shooting is extremely devastating. It does, however, raise some very important points to ponder, ones that the United States has to grapple with every time there is such a mass shooting. Gun ownership for self protection may be good but is the ability to own guns freely worth it if it comes at the cost of innocent children having to lose their lives every other month?
Share your thoughts and prayers for Sabika and your views about the incident in the comments below.
