Daily Times

Karachi: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Sunday visited the home of Sabika Sheikh, the teenage exchange student who died in Santa Fe High School shooting in Texas, United States, and offered his condolences to the aggrieved family.

The premier, accompanied by Governor Sindh Mohammad Zubair, met Abdul Aziz Sheikh, father of the teenager, and offered Fateha for the departed soul. “Sabika was a brilliant student and the entire nation is saddened by her death,” Abbasi said.

The prime minister said, “Extremism is not the problem of any single country or region, but the whole world is affected by it.”

Sabika Sheikh, a 17-year-old Pakistani scholar participating in the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) programme in the US, was one of the 10 people killed when a teenage student armed with a shotgun and a revolver opened fire in the Santa Fe High School in Texas on Friday.

According to her father, Sabika – the eldest among three sisters but younger than her brother – was due to return home onJune 9.

Hailing from Karachi, Sabika had completed her matriculation from Karachi Public School.

US Ambassador to Pakistan David Hale also expressed regret at Sabika’s death with the following message posted on the US Embassy Pakistan’s Facebook page:

“This morning, I called the family of Sabika Sheikh and offered my deepest condolences. As an exchange student, Sabika was a youth ambassador, a bridge between our peoples and cultures. All of us at the US Mission in Pakistan are devastated by and mourn her loss. We will honour her memory.”

Meanwhile, Pakistani consul-general in Houston, Aisha Farooqui, has received the deceased teenager’s body from U.S. authorities, Aziz Sheikh told Daily Times on Sunday.

He said the body had been shifted to the Muslim Funeral Home in Masjid Hamza in Houston and her funeral prayers would be held on Sunday) after Namaz-e-Zuhr in Houston.

Talking to Daily Times outside his house in Block 10, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Sheikh said that he was thankful to Ms Farooqui and other officials at Pakistani consul-general in Houston that they were continuously communicating with him and working to arrange Sabika’s funeral and also planning to send the body back to Pakistan. He said that body would be return to Pakistan either on Monday evening or on Tuesday morning.

“My daughter will be with me on either Monday evening or Tuesday morning,” he said, adding that the family was still discussing where to hold the funeral in Karachi, as they were expecting a huge gathering.

Sabika was selected for Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) programme last year and she travelled to USA in August 2017 and was expected to return on June 9. She had been due to return to Karachi in time for Eidul-Fitr.

Relatives, family friend and people from all walks of life are visiting Aziz’s home to express grief over the incident.

PM urges corporate sector to support cancer care projects

Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Sunday urged the corporate sector in the city to utilise their funds under corporate social responsibility (CSR) to establish free treatment facilities for cancer patients, as the existing infrastructure was insufficient to deal with the fast spreading disease.

Addressing a fund-raising event held here at the Governor House arranged by Cancer Care Hospital, the prime minister announced Rs100 million donation for the hospital that is being established by renowned physician Dr Shahryar to provide free medical treatment to cancer patients.

The prime minister arrived in the city earlier in the day and was received by Sindh Governor Muhammad Zubair.

Speaking at the occasion, he said it was painful for him to learn that 75 per cent of cancer patients in Pakistan die without any treatment, adding that measures were urgently needed for early detection of the disease.

He said medical facilities to diagnose and treat the disease were much needed, given the fact that cancer is a fast spreading and existing facilities are not enough to effectively treat all patients.

He lauded the idea of Dr Shahryar for establishing a free cancer care hospital where no patient would be refused treatment. He said it was obligatory for every citizen to extend all possible assistance to make the project a success that would cost Rs2 billion. Prime Minister Abbasi said though both the federal and provincial governments strived to provide efficient healthcare facilities to the people but lack of resources was an issue.

He said that some more institutes were also offering services in the sector but the proposed facility would be a pioneer in provision of palliative care in the country.

He said though the hospital would be a charitable institute, yet it would be a state-of-the-art facility for the cancer patients.

The prime minister said that he was pleased to know that under the project, an early detection mechanism would also be introduced and he hoped that the team involved in the noble task would also initiate a cancer control programme to fight the disease as it had been done for polio, malaria and other diseases.

Prime Minister Abbasi told the gathering that in the recently passed budget for fiscal 2018-19, the government had reduced the income tax rate for the corporate sector, particularly for the individuals whose income tax rate had been reduced by 50 percent.

He was of the view that running the hospital would be a challenge bigger than its establishment, and hoped that the corporate sector would support the hospital administration to carry forward the task.

He said once the hospital succeeded to win public trust, there would be no dearth of donations as Pakistani nation was highly generous to give charities.

The prime minister said the quality healthcare provided at such institutes, could not be given at public sector hospitals, so it was essential for everyone to assist the early completion of such projects.

He also hoped that the besides today’s event, more fundraisers would also be held to attract more donations and give people an opportunity to be part of the noble task.

Published in Daily Times, May 21^st 2018.