Pakistan’s celebrated philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi who dedicated his life to humanity and social services today passed away at the age of 92 after a prolonged battle with different ailments.
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More than 3,000 security and traffic police officers were deployed as the coffin was taken for burial to Edhi Village near Karachi’s main National Highway, which Edhi himself had selected as a place for his grave 25 years ago. There are estimated to be 335 Edhi centres or similar institutions across Pakistan, with hundreds, if not a few thousand, ambulances.
Correspondents say Edhi was Pakistan’s most respected figure and was seen by some as nearly a saint.
The Memon mosque is located in the old area of Karachi near Kharadar and Bolton Market where Edhi launched his first welfare home for the poor, needy and destitute in 1951.
They also operated an ambulance service, nursing homes, orphanages, women’s shelters and soup kitchens across the country, as well as provided support internationally to those in need in the US, India, Russia and other nations.
Despite constant threats, the Edhi Foundation “became Pakistan’s most relied upon social safety net, handling numerous responsibilities that the Pakistani government could not, or would not, tackle”, Al Jazeera’s Brandice Alexander reported. A huge number of mourners on Sunday flocked at a stadium in Karachi in Pakistan to bid their last adieu to Edhi, the co-founder of Edhi Foundation, according to reports. She was then adopted by Edhi Foundation. “Attending his funeral is the least we could do to pay our tributes”, shopkeeper Siraj Ahmed, 34, said outside the stadium where the army fired a 19-gun salute to mark Edhi’s death.
It was the state’s failure to aid his ailing mother that spurned Edhi to move into philanthropy for the remainder of his life.
“In his death he has united all of Pakistan, across all affiliations, in mourning”. Faisal also said that his father wanted to be buried in the same clothes he was wearing on his deathbed.
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Edhi was a man of the people, a true example of human empathy, his compassion was overwhelming and his humility was humbling.
