“No Religion Is Higher Than Humanity” R.I.P Abdul Sattar Edhi 1928-2016
Late last night, 88-year-old Abdul Sattar Edhi passed away in his homeland Pakistan. The man who will be remembered as a humanitarian legend, put service to the other before anything else. Once, when asked why he picked up ‘Christians and Hindus in his ambulance?' Edhi is said to have retorted, ‘because the ambulance is more Muslim than you.’
Abdul Sattar Edhi was to Pakistan, what Mother Teresa was to India. He had a closer India connect in recent time, when a young woman named Geeta returned to her original home across the border. Speech impaired Geeta, it is said, had accidently crossed over to Pakistan as a child and eventually was sent to the foundation run by Edhi and his wife Bilquis. The couple looked after the young girl, till she returned to India last year. The issue got a lot of publicity as it found echoes in the reel story of Salman Khan starrer Bajrangi Bhaijaan.
Edhi was further lauded when he stuck to his core principle of not accepting money from any government when he turned down the massive donation offered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi after Geeta’s story came to light. Edhi, it is said, had often rejected all government and political donations even back home in Pakistan, and accepted those made by regular citizens.
He had also most recently rejected Pakistan government’s offer to send him abroad for treatment even as his health failed. He died in a local hospital in Karachi succumbing to a long illness. Edhi along with wife Bilquis changed the way of welfare work in Pakistan. In the 1950s they set up the Edhi Foundation, and have run it since, taking it across the country.
They grew the foundation to hundreds of welfare units and have added thousands of vehicles to the ambulance service which is now synonymous with their name. The foundation also owns a couple of private jets, a helicopter and 28 rescue boats, runs free hospitals, medical units and also provides legal aid to women, children and innocent prisoners reported Scroll.
They are also credited with saving thousands of newborns from infanticide, encouraging families to instead leave the unwanted children in a jhoola cradle at their centres. This also earned Edhi the nickname ‘Father Teresa’ from his followers. His name had also come up for the Nobel Peace Prize a few times, which did not come to pass, yet. Though he has been honoured with many other awards for his humanitarian work.
Of course there were sceptics who called the social worker an “infidel” because he refused to discriminate on the basis of religion, or gender. For Edhi, humane action and empathy was the most important of aspect of his being. "My job is to serve humanity. The work inspires and satisfies me."
