HOUSTON: The family of a high school exchange student from Pakistan who was killed in a Texas school shooting have started a foundation to honor her memory through providing university scholarships to low-income Pakistani women.
Sabika Sheikh, 17, was killed in a May 2018 shooting at Santa Fe High School near Houston that left 10 people dead and at least 13 others wounded.
Her parents, Abdul Aziz Sheikh and Farah Naz, have created the Sabika for Peace Foundation to expand educational opportunities for those most in need.
“I’m always worried that we might forget (Sabika),” Farah Naz, the mother, told the Houston Chronicle during a Zoom interview with the family from their Karachi home. “But starting this foundation I know this is impossible. I know if I continue working with foundation, she will always be with me.”
The foundation has partnered with several prominent nonprofit organizations, including the Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund and the American Council for International Education. ACIE, the American Institute for Foreign Study and the International Education and Resource Network are also contributing a $300,000 seed grant to initiate the foundation. The nonprofit organization will help provide scholarships to fund university studies for low-income Pakistani women, particularly those with civic engagement aspirations.
The Sabika for Peace Foundation will start by focusing on scholarships for universities in Pakistan, but it will expand to providing exchange opportunities for American schools “so that the connection and ties” with the US continues, said Sania Sheikh, Sabika’s sister.
“I think my sister spent the best days of her life in America,” Sania Sheikh said.
The foundation will be run by a board of directors, which will comprise of representatives from the Sheikh family and four independent members selected by the family in consultation with the partners.
Family of Pakistani student killed in Texas shooting sets up scholarships for poor women
https://arab.news/mfwg3
Family of Pakistani student killed in Texas shooting sets up scholarships for poor women
- Exchange student Sabika Sheikh, 17, was killed in a May 2018 shooting at Santa Fe High School
- Her parents Abdul Aziz Sheikh and Farah Naz have created the Sabika for Peace Foundation
Imran Khan not a ‘national security threat,’ ex-PM’s party responds to Pakistan military
- Pakistan’s military spokesperson on Friday described Khan’s anti-army narrative as a “national security threat”
- PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan says words used by military spokesperson for Khan were “not appropriate”
ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party on Saturday responded to allegations by Pakistan military spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry from a day earlier, saying that he was not a “national security threat.”
Chaudhry, who heads the military’s media wing as director general of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), spoke to journalists on Friday, in which he referred to Khan as a “mentally ill” person several times during the press interaction. Chaudhry described Khan’s anti-army narrative as a “national security threat.”
The military spokesperson was responding to Khan’s social media post this week in which he accused Chief of Defense Forces Field Marshal Asim Munir of being responsible for “the complete collapse of the constitution and rule of law in Pakistan.”
“The people of Pakistan stand with Imran Khan, they stand with PTI,” the party’s secretary-general, Salman Akram Raja, told reporters during a news conference.
“Imran Khan is not a national security threat. Imran Khan has kept the people of this country united.”
Raja said there were several narratives in the country, including those that created tensions along ethnic and sectarian lines, but Khan had rejected all of them and stood with one that the people of Pakistan supported.
PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan, flanked by Raja, criticized the military spokesperson as well, saying his press talk on Thursday had “severely disappointed” him.
“The words that were used [by the military spokesperson] were not appropriate,” Gohar said. “Those words were wrong.”
‘NATURAL OUTCOME’
Speaking to reporters earlier on Saturday, Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif defended the military spokesperson’s remarks against Khan.
“When this kind of language is used for individuals as well as for institutions, then a reaction is a natural outcome,” he said.
“The same thing is happening on the Twitter accounts being run in his [Khan’s] name. If the DG ISPR has given any reaction to it, then I believe it was a very measured reaction.”
Khan, who was ousted after a parliamentary vote of confidence in April 2022, blames the country’s powerful military for removing him from power by colluding with his political opponents. Both deny the allegations.
The former prime minister, who has been in prison since August 2023 on a slew of charges he says are politically motivated, also alleges his party was denied victory by the army and his political rivals in the 2024 general election through rigging.
The army and the government both deny his allegations.
