Funeral prayers for Sabika held in Houston

HOUSTON: The funeral prayers for Sabika Sheikh, a Pakistani exchange student in Texas who was shot dead on Friday evening in the Santa Fe massacre, was held on Sunday after Namaz-e-Zuhr, here in a local mosque.

The funeral prayers, scheduled by the Pakistani Consulate in Houston at Sugar Land’s Masjid Sabireen, was separated from the one to be held in the teen’s hometown of Karachi, which her family, friends, and relatives will attend.

Pakistani Consulate officials, local members of the United States Congress, as well as other US officials attended the funeral. Sheikh's body will reach Karachi in the wee hours of Tuesday.

Earlier, Aisha Farooqui, the consul-general in Houston, confirmed that the consulate had received the deceased’s body, which was then moved to a cold storage. Sheikh's body was transferred to the Muslim Funeral Home in Masjid Hamza after Chief Medical Examiner Hafiz's approval. It would be sent back to her homeland, after necessary "legal procedures", hopefully by Monday, Farooqui said.