KARACHI, Jan 26: Abdul Sattar Edhi has warned that he will stage a sit-in in front of Governor House, Balochistan, if action is not taken against the NGOs who “trespassed” a centre of his charity foundation in Quetta on Sunday and took away 22 women and children.
“If no action is taken within three days, the Edhi welfare services in Balochistan would be brought to a halt,” he said.
The NGOs, on the other hand, held that the Edhi centre was shifting 30 women to Karachi against their will, according to our Quetta correspondent.
Sattar Edhi appealed to President Pervez Musharraf and the Balochistan governor to directly intervene in the matter and take a stern action against the trespassers.
He told a press conference here that a group, claiming affiliation with Human Rights, Balochistan, and headed by Mrs Naila Qadri, raided the centre located at Patel Bagh in Quetta. They were accompanied by the police.
The police forced the staff to leave the premises, and allowed the “so-called rights activists” to enter there. They first made 17 women and five children hostage and then whisked them away, he said.
He said they had charged the Edhi centre staff with committing human rights violations and alleged that the women and children were living in subhuman conditions.
“What is the definition of human rights violation?” he queried.
“We provide the poor and abandoned women and children a safe place to live. Most of them suffer from psychiatric problems. We provide them a shelter,” he said.
“We serve the nation and, in return, are labelled rights violators,” he lamented.
He said it was not the proper way to investigate any allegation of rights violation. They should have informed the Edhi centre first.
Edhi’s son, Faisal, alleged that two NGOs — Aurat Foundation and All Pakistan Women’s Association — had been meddling in the charity’s affairs for the past many months.
They wanted to wage a legal battle in courts to seek divorce in family disputes, while
“we want out-of-court settlements between husbands and wives.”
“Our motto is to play the role of a mediator so that couples can lead happy lives,” he said.
He claimed that the NGOs wanted to propagate the family disputes and the so-called women’s rights’ violations to seek heavy foreign funding.
Our Quetta correspondent adds:
The women and children living in the Edhi centre would be shifted to Darulaman on Monday as Edhi was closing down the centre, police said.
According to rights activist, Naila Qadri, the centre had decided to shift all the 30 women and children, lodged in the centre, to Karachi, something they were opposed to. She claimed that these women had sought her help.
She said the women felt uncomfortable as the centre was being run by male staff, and 30 ambulance drivers also lived on the same premises.
She said in view of these complaints, she visited the centre along with mediamen and met the women.
She said Aurat Foundation, Human Rights Commission and Balochistan Assembly’s women members would provide full protection to the helpless women if they did not want to live in the centre.
Till new arrangements are made, they would be shifted to Darulaman, she added.
