Close X
Monday, November 11, 2024
ADVT 
International

Celebrated Pakistani Philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi Passes Away In Karachi

Darpan News Desk IANS, 08 Jul, 2016 11:42 AM
    Celebrated humanitarian and Edhi Foundation Chairman Abdul Sattar Edhi passed away at the age of 92 in Karachi on Friday night, it has been learnt.
     
    Edhi was diagnosed with kidney failure in 2013 but had been unable to get a transplant due to frail health. He was receiving treatment at the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT).
     
    Earlier in the day, the philanthropist's son Faisal Edhi and wife Bilquis Edhi informed the media that doctors at the facility have termed his condition critical as he felt difficulty in breathing while undergoing a scheduled dialysis process "after which the doctors decided to shift him on a ventilator".
     
    Born to a family of traders in Gujarat, Mr Edhi arrived in Pakistan in 1947.
     
    The state’s failure to help his struggling family care for his mother – paralysed and suffering from mental health issues – was his painful and decisive turning point towards philanthropy.
     
     
     
    Revered by many as a national hero, Mr Edhi created a charitable empire out of nothing. He masterminded Pakistan’s largest welfare organisation almost single-handedly, entirely with private donations.
     
    Content with just two sets of clothes, he slept in a windowless room of white tiles adjoining the office of his charitable foundation. Sparsely equipped, it had just one bed, a sink and a hotplate.
     
    “He never established a home for his own children,” his wife Bilquis, who manages the foundation’s homes for women and children, told in an interview this year.
     
    What he has established is something of a safety net for the poor and destitute, mobilising the nation to donate and help take action – filling a gap left by a lack of welfare state.
     
    Mr Edhi has been nominated several times for the Nobel Peace Prize, and appeared on the list again this year – put there by Malala Yousafzai, Pakistan’s teenage Nobel laureate.

    MORE International ARTICLES

    Indian Peacekeepers, UN Diplomats To Join Yoga Day Celebrations

    Indian Peacekeepers, UN Diplomats To Join Yoga Day Celebrations
    Indian peacekeepers serving in UN missions, participants from about 100 nationalities and top UN diplomats will join the second International Day of Yoga celebration next week with emphasis on how Yoga can help in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

    Indian Peacekeepers, UN Diplomats To Join Yoga Day Celebrations

    Hindu Priest Receives Death Threat In Bangladesh

    Hindu Priest Receives Death Threat In Bangladesh
    "The security of the (RK) Mission has been intensified as the priest filed a general diary with us," duty officer of the city's Wari police station told.

    Hindu Priest Receives Death Threat In Bangladesh

    H-1B Visa Abuse Harming American Workers: NYT

    H-1B Visa Abuse Harming American Workers: NYT
    H-1B visa "abuse" is harming American workers, leading US daily New York Times said on Thursday and asked the US Congress to close the loopholes as some companies skirt rules for using foreign workers with such visas by outsourcing recruitments to firms like Tata and Infosys.

    H-1B Visa Abuse Harming American Workers: NYT

    Kenya: Bomb Scare At Canadian High Commission Over Visas

    Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet said Thursday the road to the Canadian diplomatic offices was sealed off as Kenyan bomb experts inspected the package.

    Kenya: Bomb Scare At Canadian High Commission Over Visas

    British MP Jo Cox Dies After Being Shot And Stabbed, Man Arrested

    British MP Jo Cox Dies After Being Shot And Stabbed, Man Arrested
    Jo Cox, a member of the British parliament, died after being shot in northern England,  UK police have said.

    British MP Jo Cox Dies After Being Shot And Stabbed, Man Arrested

    Indian Jailed For 14 Months In Cambodia

    Indian Jailed For 14 Months In Cambodia
    A Cambodian court on Thursday sentenced an Indian man to 14 months in prison for sexually abusing an underage girl, an anti-pedophile agency said.

    Indian Jailed For 14 Months In Cambodia