Celebrated Pakistani philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi, who had dedicated his life to humanity and serving the poor, has died from renal failure at the age of 92.
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Twitter users immediately pounced on Express News for its “extremely insensitive” and “disrespectful” broadcast towards Edhi. The Governor has also expressed his deep condolence on the sad demise of great community and social leader Abdul Sattar Edhi.
Edhi, 88, died late on Friday after a long kidney illness, triggering an outpouring of grief in the nation of 190 million for a man who transcended social, ethnic and religious divisions.
While Pakistan mourns the death of national icon Abdul Sattar Edhi, a journalist made a decision to go to extreme lengths to cover the story of the passing – and got right into the humanitarian’s grave, according to a viral tweet. The Edhi foundation was at the forefront of the response previous year when a devastating heatwave struck Karachi, a city of about 20 million people.
As part of his commitment to living simply, Mr Edhi would never own more than a few items of clothing and a pair of shoes, his son said.
Born in Gujarat, Edhi belonged to a family of Memon traders, who came to Karachi in 1947.
He opened his first clinic in 1951 and the Edhi Foundation grew to be the country’s largest welfare organisation, running schools, hospitals and ambulance services across the country, often plugging gaps in services which the state simply fails to provide. “I want to tell you all, Pakistan and the world, that he is not with us anymore”, said Faisal Edhi.
Edhi’s funeral prayer was offered at the National Stadium after which he was laid to rest in Edhi Village in a grave that he prepared for himself around 25 years ago.
Faisal said Edhi’s kidneys failed in 2013 and he was on dialysis but he couldn’t get a transplant because of his frail health.
Edhi was awarded the Ahmadiyya Muslim Peace Prize in 2010 for his life saving and development work in Pakistan and other countries. The Edhi Foundation operates ambulance services, orphanages, women’s shelters, dispensaries and morgues in several Pakistani cities.
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“Before his death he had donated his coronaries and body organs”, Faisal said.
