He was conferred several highest national civilian awards due to his services for humanity.
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Pakistan’s legendary philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi, who devoted his life to the poor and the destitute, died on Friday at a hospital in Karachi following a prolonged illness. He was receiving treatment at the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT).
The Edhi Foundation runs a vast fleet of ambulances, orphanages, and medical clinics across Pakistan.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, President Mamnoon Hussain, Army Chief General Raheel Sharif, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, Chairman Senate Raza Rabbani, Opposition in National Assembly Khurshid Shah and other political leaders have expressed grief on Edhi’s death and offered condolence to his family.
He was born to a family of traders in what was then the Bombay Presidency in undivided India on January 1, 1924, and arrived in Pakistan in 1947.
He said that Sattar Edhi is suffering from the renal failure for the past three years and since his dialysis is being performed.
In October last year, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had coordinated with the Edhi foundation to bring back Geeta, a hearing and speech impaired girl who strayed across the border 15 years ago and was taken care of by the foundation. In the past, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and real estate tycoon Malik Riaz also offered help but Edhi turned them down as well. He gave until the very end, his son told AFP, seeking to donate all his body organs – though doctors said that due to his age he could only donate his corneas.
Faisal said Edhi refused to go overseas for medical treatment and preferred to die in Pakistan.
The Prime Minister said late Edhi was a humanitarian and a man of the people till his very last breath, and “we can not thank him enough for being a guiding light towards empathy in a nation divided”.
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His work was so widely respected by across Pakistan that armed groups and bandits were known to spare his ambulances. He is survived by his wife Bilquis Edhi and four children – two daughters and two sons. Frail and weak in his later years, he appointed his son Faisal as managing trustee in early 2016.
