Column: Why did we forget Edhi?

“Abdul Sattar Edhi passed away but his legacy of serving humanity will never die. His heroic work helping young and old inspired me from an early age. Edhi’s humble, selfless ways and tireless efforts should inspire us all. We should learn from him that it is our duty to help those most in need,” said Nobel Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai

Some Indian mainstream newspapers carried a wire report. Others ignored it. Most Indian media did not even care to report the news. A popular website carried a tribute but missed the relevant details. Given that a few months ago he was hailed in India as a saviour of the speech and hearing impaired Geeta, Abdul Sattar Edhi’s death in Karachi deserved more attention. He died on July 8th and since the 1980s, his was the first state funeral in Pakistan.

Geeta was probably 8 or 9 years old when she accidentally crossed over to Pakistan. She was adopted and brought up by Edhi and his wife Bilquis till she identified her family and was brought to India in October 2015. The Edhis travelled with her and was treated as state guests. However, the DNA tests with her family were negative and she now lives in Indore at a shelter home. She was named Geeta by the Edhis, ate only vegetarian food, prayed in her little temple and was loved by her adopted parents.

A Gujarati by birth (where Jinnah came from) Abdul Sattar Edhi was born in 1928 and went to Pakistan as a refugee or a muhajir and became the country’s most inspirational philanthropist. The Edhi Foundation founded by him provided health and social care for the destitute in Pakistan. As a symbol of Pakistan’s vanishing secular tradition, Edhi took care of humanity without considering caste or creed or sect.   

Edhi started by hawking pencils and matches and then paan but soon set up a pharmacy in 1951 from where he would offer basic medical care regardless of people’s ability to pay. He would raise money from passers by even till his end but it was only in 1957 that his work was acknowledged. His foundation would become the only free cradle-to-grave service in Karachi a city of 15 million people and he and his wife Bilquis would wash the dead before burial and raise orphans and the destitute like their own children.

The cradles kept outside his centres in Karachi played a crucial role in curbing infanticide and many children found good homes. His wife Bilquis is at the forefront of the adoption and orphanage services. Edhi Foundation turned into Pakistan’s largest welfare organisation, a multi-billion dollar charitable institution, owner of the world’s largest ambulance service but Edhi was content with two sets of clothes, sleeping in a windowless room with one bed, a sink and a hotplate.

The more misery he witnessed the steelier was his resolve to serve. With Bilquis by his side and an army of dedicated workers, Edhi was bitter only with the mullahs who he thought had perverted the spirit of religion with literal interpretations.

Edhi once said, “Don’t talk to me about helping Muslims. Go and serve humanity. If there are two dead bodies on the road, will you pick up the Muslim body and leave the Hindu one there to rot? If you want to serve the cause of Islam, then go out and serve humanity without any discrimination at all.”

Edhi was laid to rest in a grave he had dug at the Edhi cemetery. Hopefully, his legacy of inclusiveness will inspire a lost tradition in this subcontinent.\

Kishalay Bhattacharjee is a senior journalist and author. His most recent book is Blood on my Hands: Confessions of Staged Encounters (Harper Collins 2015). The views expressed here are his own.