I found her to be very cheerful with a pleasant personality. At the core, was her unending passion to believe and do what was right. That’s exactly what she stood up for, till the very end. From our conversations, I encountered a brave soul and a fearless character, who believed in everything that was right, and would certainly stand up for it, no matter what. You don’t find too many people like that anymore. The fearless ones have already moved to greener pastures.
Her death is not only Karachi’s loss but is also the nation’s loss. We have lost an individual who gave so much to society and asked for nothing in return. She did things selflessly and T2F was a place where liberal voices were heard and logical reasoning made sense. The ‘Bring Your Brain’ mantra made a lot of sense.
I did not know her too well personally, but on professional lines, I knew she was the best person to turn to if I had any questions left unanswered for a piece on an event that had taken place at T2F. And many, many events took place there. She would guide me, and would help out in a number of ways to get me connected to people, whose silent voices would have always remained unheard had it not been for Sabeen.
She has definitely gone too soon, killed mercilessly. And when a sane voice leaves us, we are left to wonder where we are headed. From deep inside, a voice speaks up: will there ever be another Sabeen Mahmud in our midst again? For sure, it will take another century to breed an individual like her — for Pakistan needs one. But a million-dollar question remains: do we deserve people like her? Are we good enough for them?
Published in The Express Tribune, April 29th, 2015.
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