Nation unites in grief for Edhi

KARACHI: Pakistan’s greatest humanitarian worker and philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi united the deeply polarised nation in his death. Hundreds of people from different political, religious and ethnic backgrounds offered funeral prayers in absentia, held vigils and arranged special prayers for him across the country on Sunday.

Edhi, whose name has become synonymous with charitable causes and who achieved an almost saintly status in the country, died on Friday after a years-long battle with renal failure.



Droves of politicians, social activists, philanthropists and people from all walks turned up at Karachi’s Memon Masjid to attend the Soyem of Edhi amid tight security. For women, arrangements were made at Edhi’s residence in the city’s old quarters of Mithadar.

Mourners, including top politicians, met Faisal Edhi to offer their condolences. They included opposition leader in the National Assembly Khursheed Shah, Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani, MQM’s Farooq Sattar and PTI’s Dr Arif Alvi. They paid rich tribute to Edhi for his immense services to humanity.

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak, who flew into the city Sunday morning, visited the Edhi Village, the final resting place of the philanthropist, to offer Fateha. His senior aides Mushtaq Ghani and Asad Qaiser accompanied him.

Later, Khattak visited the Edhi centre at Mithadar and offered his full support to the Edhi Foundation in K-P. He said they had come on behalf of both the PTI chairperson Imran Khan and the K-P government. “My government has a plan to donate land for Edhi centres across the province,” he added.



Fateha and Quran Khawani were also held in various cities of Sindh to pay homage to Edhi.

Speaking to the dignitaries, Faisal Edhi said, “A heavy responsibility lies on my shoulders now. I will try my best to take my father’s mission forward.” He added that he would, however, miss his father, always.

Meanwhile, at Central Brooks Memorial Church, prayers were offered for the late Edhi. Addressing the congregation, Pastor Saith Gill said that “instead of words, we should preach through our character and follow the path of Jesus and people like Abdul Sattar Edhi”.

“In order to enter the kingdom of God, one needs to struggle really hard,” said Gill, adding we should strive to be devoted to fellow human beings as Edhi did so we can enter God’s kingdom.



Gill stressed that love demands sacrifice and we must go to any level to achieve the closeness of God. “God sends people like Edhi in this world to set an example and its compulsory on us that we, as ordinary persons, should pay tribute to figures like him who served people without any discrimination,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 11^th, 2016.