Sabika Sheikh’s fellow Romanian student ‘heartbroken’ over her death

Pakistani student Sabika Sheikh was among the 10 students killed in a mass shooting when a student armed with a shotgun and revolver opened fire at Santa Fe high school in Texas on Friday.

Sabika, resident of Karachi’s Gulshan-e-Iqbal area, was part of the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) programme for her stay in the US and had to return home in June. She was among 75 Pakistani students who were selected to study abroad under the scholarship programme.

Sabika’s death has left George Lapadat, a Romanian exchange student and one of Sabika Sheikh's friend, heartbroken.

He writes on his Facebook page about Sabika.

“This is Sabika Sheikh, one of my friends. She was a Pakistani exchange student; she came to the US to learn, to experience, to share and to bring back to her country all the knowledge she acquired during her exchange.”

He went on to say Sabika was young, vibrant, happy and super-excited to go back to her country. She was going to return in a few days. She has done an amazing job being an ambassador of her country here.

George says Sabika had volunteered in her community, she was involved in a lot of activities and she created a lot of lifelong friendships. But she died today, in the horrific Santa Fe, Texas school shooting, along with 9 (so far) other American students. Her family and friends from back home will never get to see her again.

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, he said.

George prayed for the departed soul, “May her soul Rest In Peace!”