Muneeb Sohail

The young Pakistani who was hit by a stray bullet during clashes in Karachi.

“Go ahead, with the firm decision to live our great Ideal radically, to offer the society around you the love that shines in your hearts, and that Muneeb too would have wanted to gift to many. Certainly he will continue from heaven to live and work with you and with the whole Movement, so as to give rise day after day to a new, united, peaceful and supportive people”.

With these words, the president Maria Voce encouraged the gen (youth of the Focolare) in Pakistan to follow the path of Muneeb Sohail. He died after being hit by a bullet during the heavy and violent clashes last January in Karachi, while he was returning home with another gen after an English lesson. Unfortunately, such clashes frequently occur in this southern metropolis of the country.

Muneeb would have turned 20 next May. Right from an early age, he had begun to live and appreciate within his family the spirituality of unity.

He had lost his father as a child. When he grew up, he took it upon himself to pass on the lifestyle he had discovered to youth as well as to younger children.

He used to say that in order to “deepen and understand it better”, he went to live together with other gen during the spring of 2012. He made an indelible impression on them. Speaking of him they said: “For me he was an angel. He taught me to live with God. He was a true friend for us children”; “When I first met him, he immediately shared with me his experiences and his life, and he never missed an opportunity to love concretely”.

On 7^th October last year, a month after the large international event in Budapest, the Genfest was also held in Karachi despite the tense situation prevailing in the city. Muneeb was at the forefront during the preparations and in the programme, adhering to and spreading the ideal of a United World.

On 17^th January, while greeting his mother, Muneeb said: “I’m happy to give my life to Jesus”.

And now the baton passes on to all the gen in the world, to all those who support the United World Project – UWP, and to all those who feel called to build bridges of peace and brotherhood everywhere.