Pakistani student among victims
KARACHI — Abdul Aziz learned about the US school shooting in which his 17-year-old daughter was killed on CNN, with the story airing live as he broke his fast thousands of miles away in Pakistan.
In those chaotic first moments of confusion and terror he called his daughter Sabika Sheikh’s phone over and over. She did not answer.
“I kept calling her and sent her messages on WhatsApp. Never before had my daughter failed to reply,” Aziz said, fighting back tears at his home in the southern port city Karachi on Saturday, just hours after he and his wife had their worst fears confirmed.
“We are still in a state of denial. It is like a nightmare,” said Aziz. His wife sat nearby, visibly still shocked and seemingly unable to speak as friends and relatives tried to comfort her.
Sheikh was an exchange student at the Santa Fe High School in Texas. She had been in the US for 10 months and was just weeks away from coming home.
Sheikh had nurtured dreams of serving in Pakistan’s foreign office. She had been due to return to Karachi in time for Eid Al Fitr to celebrate the occasion with her family. “She was coming back soon,” her father said.
“There is a general impression that the life is safe and secure in America. But this is not the case.”
US celebrities joined Pakistanis in expressing their sorrow.
“This little girl could’ve been my daughter. We must do more than just console the parents of these murdered kids,” said American actress Mindy Kaling on Twitter, along with a picture of Sheikh in a post online.
Some Pakistanis branded the killing “terrorism”.
“My heart is crying for #SabikaSheikh we have lost our brightest asset because of terrorism,” tweeted Malik Rohaina, from Hyderabad.
Even as he mourned the loss of his daughter, Aziz said he hoped the tragedy would not frighten fellow Pakistanis from following her lead. —