Ex Pak Woman Hockey Player Lost Her Life In A Mission To Save Her Son
For the own circle of relatives of Shahida Raza, the Pakistani former hockey big name feared to be the various dozens of migrants who drowned off southern Italy this week, the watch for her frame is piling at the anguish.
Raza competed in global championships with the Pakistani girls`s group in 2012 and 2013, and turned into as soon as defined as the “linchpin” of the side But a wave of tragedies in current years left her desperately in search of the cash and possibility to get life-saving remedy for her three-year-antique son, who turned into identified with a situation that reasons paralysis.
Her alternatives in Pakistan exhausted, she left her toddler at domestic and made her manner legally to Turkey closing year, her own circle of relatives advised AFP On Sunday, she boarded the ill-fated timber boat wearing a few a hundred and fifty passengers at the vital Mediterranean migrant route, the deadliest withinside the world.
“Shahida turned into continuously in contact with the own circle of relatives and I even spoke to her at 6:30 withinside the morning on Sunday, round an hour or so earlier than the tragic incident,” her elder sister Sadia Raza advised AFP on Thursday on the own circle of relatives domestic withinside the metropolis of Quetta in southwestern Pakistan. “She advised me that she turned into first-class and on a boat.”
The overloaded vessel broke up and sank in stormy seas, with bodies, footwear and particles washing up alongside an extended stretch of shoreline. Nearly 70 humans are showed dead. With the assist of an acquaintance who lives in Italy, Raza’s frame turned into diagnosed the use of pix and a valuable pendant that turned into nonetheless round her neck, her own circle of relatives stated.
They haven’t begun to acquire respectable phrase approximately her loss of life from Pakistani or Italian authorities, or while her frame might be repatriated. “The entire own circle of relatives, especially our antique mother, is experiencing anguish with each passing day,” her sister stated, her arms tracing the handfuls of medals, trophies and group pix that enhance a cupboard of their domestic. Raza’s marriage had damaged down withinside the years following her son’s birth. He is now together along with his father’s own circle of relatives.
Tragedies
Raza commenced gambling hockey in 2003, competing professionally till 2019 while she grew to become to coaching. It continues to be uncommon for girls to play game in deeply conservative Pakistan in which households regularly forbid it. But Raza discovered solace in hockey, farfar from the problems confronted through her marginalised community, the Hazara. The particularly Shia Muslim ethnic minority has confronted common attacks — consisting of suicide bombings — through Sunni Islamist militants, specifically in Quetta.
“Shahida turned into a kind-hearted person, talkative, jolly and continually had a grin on her face,” stated her pal and fellow hockey participant Sumiya, who did now no longer need to offer her closing name. “But the tragedies of her non-public life, her son’s illness, her divorce and unemployment modified her. She have become silent and appreciated to be alone.”
Raza had appealed to the authorities and Pakistani sports activities federation for monetary assist, and visited pinnacle hospitals withinside the country. But docs advised her there has been no remedy to be had withinside the country. “After that, Shahida turned into decided to study opportunities in European international locations to get her son handled,” Sumiya stated.
“She commenced residing for her simplest son with an goal to get him handled and in that mission, she misplaced her life.” Pakistan is withinside the grip of a gargantuan monetary downturn, with hovering inflation and sizable manufacturing facility shutdowns. An respectable from the human trafficking venture pressure at Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency advised AFP this week that 40,000 humans attempt to input Europe illegally each year.
“The numbers are growing with every day because of our deteriorating monetary scenario and absence of jobs,” the respectable stated on situation of anonymity. There are about 2.2 million Pakistanis in Europe, and Italy is the desired vacation spot for migrants from the South Asian nation, in keeping with a 2022 survey through the Mixed Migration Centre.
Most use smugglers to transit via Iran, Turkey and Greece on their trip, the document stated. Italian police have arrested three “alleged smugglers” following Sunday’s wreck, consisting of Pakistanis and a Turkish national.
