Close X
Sunday, November 24, 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

    Another Hindu Priest Hacked To Death In Bangladesh, India Voices Concern

    Another Hindu Priest Hacked To Death In Bangladesh, India Voices Concern
    Shyamananda Das, 50, was serving at the Sri Sri Radha Madan Gopal temple at Uttar Kastasagarha in the Jhenaidah district's Sadar Upazila for the past three years, bdnews24.com reported.

    Another Hindu Priest Hacked To Death In Bangladesh, India Voices Concern

    Texas Abortions Fell Sharply Under Law Supreme Court Voided

    Texas Abortions Fell Sharply Under Law Supreme Court Voided
    Abortions in Texas plummeted about 15 per cent during the first year after approval of tough restrictions that the U.S. Supreme Court has since struck down — a decline that activists say shows how hard it had become to get an abortion in America's second-largest state.

    Texas Abortions Fell Sharply Under Law Supreme Court Voided

    RSS Chief To Address Hindu Gathering In Britain

    RSS Chief To Address Hindu Gathering In Britain
    RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat will visit Britain in July to participate in a Hindu gathering in a bid to attract British Hindu youths to Indian culture.

    RSS Chief To Address Hindu Gathering In Britain

    Two Indians Abducted In Nigeria, Confirms Government

    Two Indians Abducted In Nigeria, Confirms Government
    The government on Friday confirmed reports that two Indian nationals have been kidnapped in Nigeria and said that the Indian mission in the West African nation is closely coordinating with local agencies in the wake of the incident.

    Two Indians Abducted In Nigeria, Confirms Government

    Indian-origin Deputy Mayor Rajesh Agrawal Says Saving London Jobs His Priority

    Indian-origin Deputy Mayor Rajesh Agrawal Says Saving London Jobs His Priority
    The man appointed as Deputy Mayor for business in London says his primary responsibility will be to safeguard jobs through the Brexit fallout.

    Indian-origin Deputy Mayor Rajesh Agrawal Says Saving London Jobs His Priority

    Pakistan Asks India For More Evidence On 26/11 Mumbai Attacks

    Pakistan on Thursday demanded more evidence from India on the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks in order to bring the case to its "logical end", the Foreign Office spokesperson said here.

    Pakistan Asks India For More Evidence On 26/11 Mumbai Attacks