Page 18 - Urdu Link - May 25, 2018

P18 – PAKISTAN LINK – MAY 25, 2018 COMMUNITY
Nakba Catastrophe Remembered in Sacramento

n By Ras H. Siddiqui international law and comply with
the UN Resolutions which have
unique event was held in been around since 1949. Pressed
downtown Sacramento, further, the spokesman said that
A California on Wednesday, ANSWER stands with the op-
May 15, 2018 to remember the ca- pressed people, no matter where
tastrophe (Nakba) that converted they are from, but we look up to the
the residents of Palestine 70 years Palestinian people for their strug-
ago into refugees. This protest was gle and for their heroic resistance.
sponsored by various organiza- And, finally, a member of the
tions, including Act Now to Stop local Palestinian American League
War and End Racism - ANSWER explained to this writer how the
Coalition, Student for Justice in situation had become intolerable
Palestine - UC Davis, Sacramento for people in the occupied territo-
Area Peace Action, Sacramento ries (West Bank and Gaza) and why
Regional Coalition for Palestin- Americans should not side with a
ian Human Rights and the Pales- land grab and displacement. He
tinian American League. spoke of the number of groups who
The event was joined by Code came out in support at this event
Pink and quite a large contingent because people know what is right
from the Jewish Voice for Peace and what is wrong.
organization. It would be fair to re- To conclude, nobody was ask-
port that the Palestinian and Mus- ing for the destruction of the state
lim representation was in minority of Israel here at this protest. What
here. attracted this writer to the event
This protest rally was not was an invitation from a friend and
large by any means but it was vo- recent images of a David versus
cal and quite visible. One cannot Goliath struggle (ironically) be-
overlook the fact that it was being tween an abandoned and margin-
held against the backdrop of fresh alized people against a vastly supe-
military action against protestors in that her group has been working in they want to an unarmed people. said that they were here once again rior military force. The Palestinians
Gaza recently where 60 people, in- Sacramento for about 10 years and This is terrible, tragic and very sad. to condemn the actions against the are not waging war. All they are
cluding children, were killed. the situation is as bad as it has ever But why do American Jews want Palestinian people. We saw a mas- calling for is the implementation of
I spoke with one member of the been. She added that in terms of the to stand with Palestinians, I asked? sacre yesterday which they are try- some human decency and fairness
Jewish Voice for Peace organization killing of non-violent protesters, if Because Jewish values are not that ing to call “deadly clashes,” he said. in a scenario where their rights are
and asked her why she was here. that was to happen in the USA, it of the Israeli government, she said. It wasn’t clashes. It was peaceful being denied and their ancestral
She said that she supports the Pales- would be intolerable. But in Israel I also talked with a spokesman protesters demanding their human land and property is being slowly
tinians and their human rights and it seems that the army can do what from the ANSWER Coalition who rights, demanding that Israel follow taken over.
Family, Friends Mourn Pakistani Exchange Student Killed in Santa Fe School Shooting

Sabika Sheikh, a 17-year-old Pakistani George Lapadat, an exchange student
scholar participating in the Kennedy-Lugar from Romania, who claims that Sabika was one
Youth Exchange and Study (YES) program in of his friends, took to Facebook to express his
the US, was one of the 10 people killed when grief at Sabika’s death.
a teenage classmate armed with a shotgun and He said that Sabika “came to the US to
a revolver opened fire in the Santa Fe High learn, to experience, to share and to bring back
School in Texas last week. to her country all the knowledge she acquired
“We found out about the shooting from a during her exchange.”
local TV channel and tried, but failed to con- “She was young, vibrant, happy and super-
tact Sabika and her friends,” said Sabika’s father excited to go back to her country. She was going
Abdul Aziz, while adding that they then con- to return in a few days. She has done an amaz-
tacted the YES program coordinator, who con- ing job being an ambassador of her country
firmed the news of their daughter’s death, “after here,” the Facebook post read.
a four-to-five-hour delay.” Lapadat added: “When she left for this trip,
According to her father, Sabika — the el- she was supposed to be gone for 10 months...
dest among three sisters but younger than her but now she is gone forever.”
brother — was due to return home on June 9. “And if this [the shooting] is not enough to
Her family had been counting the days till her prove that something is wrong and something
return. needs to change, I don’t know what else would
Hailing from Karachi, Sabika was de- be,” he concluded.
scribed as a brilliant student by her father. She Megan Lysaght, manager of the YES pro-
had completed her matriculation from Karachi Sabika Sheikh was due to return home to her parents on June 9 gram, sent a letter to students in the program
Public School. confirming that Sabika Sheikh was killed in the
According to the Wall Street Journal, she ambassador, a bridge between our peoples and Pakistan.” shooting.
was an honor roll student at the Santa Fe High cultures. All of us at the US Mission in Pakistan Aisha Farooqui, the consul general at the “Please know that the YES program is
School. are devastated by and mourn her loss. We will Pakistani consulate in Houston, said in an of- devastated by this loss and we will remember
US Ambassador David Hale expressed re- honor her memory.” ficial statement that the US State Department Sabika and her families in our thoughts and
gret at Sabika’s death with the following mes- had sent them official confirmation of Sabika’s prayers,” Lysaght wrote.
sage posted on the US Embassy Pakistan’s Face- US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo of- death in the Santa Fe shooting. She said the program would be holding a
book page: fered his condolences in a statement Saturday, “Our thoughts and prayers are with Sabi- moment of silence for Sabika, who is pictured
“This morning, I called the family of Sabi- saying that “Sabika’s death and that of the other ka’s family and friends,” a tweet from the Paki- beaming in a shirt that says “Texas” in a photo
ka Sheikh and offered my deepest condolences. victims is heartbreaking and will be mourned stan Embassy in Washington DC quoted Am- being shared on social media.
As an exchange student, Sabika was a youth deeply both here in the United States, and in bassador Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry as saying. SABIKA, , P28

(Left): The coffin of Santa Fe High School shooting victim Sabika Sheikh, 17, is carried during her funeral service in Stafford, Texas, on May, 20, 2018 - AFP; (Center): Nasir Shenwari (c), holds grieving daughter Aunza as
the casket of Sabika leaves after the funeral service; and (Right): Funeral prayers for Sabika
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