Unique Ceremony to Celebrate Positivity in the Community

Grand Honoring Event for Deputy Sheriff Nasir Abbasi

Large Number of Persons Attended the Honoring of Deputy Sherrif Nasir Abbasi Event

More than two hundred persons were in attendance to honor one of the first Pakistani-Americans to have become Deputy Sheriff after the completion of his training. He is Deputy Sheriff Nasir Abbasi in the Harris County Sheriff Department.

Honorable Sheriff Adrian Garcia with his wife attended this honoring event for Deputy Sheriff Nasir Abbasi this past weekend. Very few events in the community happen to celebrate the true success of Pakistani-Americans; and this was quite a unique & encouraging occasion for the whole community. Special flowers bouquet and traditional Sindhi & Hazara Cap and Shawls were both Sheriff Garcia and Deputy Sheriff Abbasi.

Deputy Abbasi was very gracious in inviting and profusely recognizing during the program four Pakistanis during the event, namely Sergeant Sajid Rasheed (very first Pakistani-American in the Houston Police Department HPD 1993), HPD Officer Muzaffar Siddiqui, HPD Officer Asim Qureshi, and HPD Lt. Sohail Aziz.

This event was held at and sponsored by La Sani Restaurant, in collaboration with community organizations like Houston-Karachi Sister City Association (HKSCA), Sindhi Association of North America (SANA), Hazara American Welfare Association (HAWA), Pakistani American Council of Texas (PACT), Pakistani-American Association of Greater Houston (PAGH), Pakistan Chamber of Commerce USA (PCC-USA), and SindhInstitute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT).

Program started with Matloob Khan of Bear Creek ISGH Masjid welcoming all the guests, followed by heartwarming recitation of Quran and its translation in English & prayers by young Hafiz Tauqir Shah, followed by national anthems of both USA & Pakistan. Emcee of the program was Ms. Natashah, who in her eloquent British style English made the event further exceptional.

HPD Lieutenant Harry Zamora, who recently got the Medal of Valor Award, attended the ceremony with is family members, & congratulated Deputy Sheriff Nasir Abbasi and the Pakistani-American Community.

In his short presentation, Saeed Sheikh of HKSCA thanked Nadeem Malik, Faisal Ahmed, and all the team members of La Sani Restaurant, in coming up with the idea of the honoring a successful person in the community, and arranging everything in most befitting manner. He added that for any thriving community, city, county, country, and in fact the world, safe and serene environment is one of the most important ingredients; and that people in Harris County are lucky that they have the most competent leadership of Honorable Sherriff Adrian Garcia in providing that important security and peaceful environment for us, which help us in bringing up our families in the right manner and that in turn positively contribute towards the betterment of our society.

P. J. Swati of PCC-USA requested Sheriff Garcia to appoint Deputy Sheriff Nasir Abbasi as Liaison for the Muslim-Pakistani-Communities. His cousin Mazhar Chaudhry talked about how he & Deputy Sheriff Nasir Abbasi, used to have long talks about his future and how every time they used to conclude that he should go into law enforcement agencies. He informed that during his student life, Mr. Abbasi was very active in students’ union political process.

Others, who spoke included Farah Iqbal (inspirational poem), Faisal Ahmed (La Sani Restaurant), Gul Faraz Khan (HAWA), Taslim Siddiqui (PAGH), Talat Talpur (SANA), and Ghulam Bombaywala.

In his largely expressive presentation both in English & Urdu, Deputy Sheriff Nasir Abbasi created inspirational atmosphere by first kissing the American and then the Pakistani flags; and on his death, he would like to be wrapped in Texas flag, saying being loyal to the place where one lives is among the teachings of Islam. He further made the atmosphere warm by reciting in Urdu the famous Supplication Poem of Allama Iqbal (Lab-e-Aatee Ha Duwa). He thanked everyone for the ceremony and inviting his boss Sheriff Garcia and his wife. said initially due to less resources of his father, he studied at low grade schools, but his parents were very visionary and made sure that eventually he gets the best possible education, which is the biggest gift any parent can give to their children. He quoted famous personality Helen Keller, who was blind, that what is her biggest fear; and she said if someone has sight, but has no vision. He said he wants to give this message to his Pakistani-American Community to have a vision. He had a vision and dram to serve the humanity. For that he transformed his vision into smaller goals; and today is thankful to God that he has achieved his dream of becoming Deputy Sheriff and is able to serve his fellow human beings. He admired and recognized his wife Ms. Siddiqua and his father-in-law, who had travelled all the way from New York for this ceremony.

Honorable Sheriff Adrian Garcia in his speech thanked the Pakistani-Americans for giving the son of the community to his department. He said his policy is to diversify his department, since in Harris County, the third largest in USA, more than 100 languages are spoken, and he needs at least one officer if not more, who can speak one of these languages: “Many Nasirs are needed”. He said we are public servants and should never forget that, as we continue to make the community safer & healthier for businesses and families.

Event ended with scrumptious dinner of La Sani Restaurant.

13-48