TWENTY-FIVE years ago a man called Abdus Sattar Edhi literally dug his own grave and was laid to rest with full state honours after millions of people performed Ghaibana Namaaz all over Pakistan. In recognition of his work, people all over the world poured their grief on Facebooks, Twitters, newspaper columns and every conceivable mode of communication.

In a quarter of a century the man had made Pakistan proud by his humanitarian deeds and service to suffering humanity. He had personally carried bullet-ridden bodies from ditches, bathed them personally and performed the last rites. He adopted children who had been abandoned outside Edhi Offices and left to die perhaps because they were illegitimate. But Edhi embraced them with affection as though they were his very own. Perhaps like Tagore, Edhi too believed that the birth of a child proved that the Almighty has not yet given up hope in humanity.

He married off poor and destitute young girls or had them join his workforce giving them skills and education. Had he not done so these girls may have landed in wrong places. His ambulances, both motorised and airborne, would promptly answer calls of distress not only in Pakistan but also abroad.

This amazing man wanted nothing in return for himself. Not even the traditional and ritualistic `kafaan’ (a simple piece of white cloth) and dug his own grave to prove that he did not want anything in return for his phenomenal services to fellow human-beings.

Will such a man as Edhi ever walk on Allah’s land again? Who knows.

Anwar Abbas

Karachi

Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2016