Pakistani scientist’s family leaves US after 7-year-old son attacked

ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani family left the United States after their seven-year-old son was bullied and beaten by his own classmates in school bus allegedly for being a Muslim, according to US media.

Abdul Aziz, a first-grader and the youngest child of award-winning Pakistani computer scientist Zeeshan-ul-Hassan Usmani, told his parents that a classmate had tried to force him to eat food that wasn’t halal. When Abdul Aziz refused, five of his classmates ganged up on him, making fun of his name.

They punched him in the face, kicked him in the stomach, and twisted his arm while calling him “Muslim” again and again, Usmani said.

“He was born and raised [in the United States]. He was born in Florida. As American as you can think of. He likes Captain America. He wants to be president of the United States of America,” Usmani said.

Zeeshan ul-hassan Usmani uploaded a photo on Oct. 8, showing his son sitting with a cast slung around his arm.

Usmani has won numerous awards for both his research and as an entrepreneur. In 2012, he received the Best IT Innovation Award given to him by the Frontiers of Information Technology.

The following year he received the Teradata IT Excellence Award in Research and Development for his project on terrorism forecasting and was the winner of the TiE StartUp Cup Pakistan.

In 2014, he followed up by winning the World Startup Cup in Armenia.