KARACHI, Oct 16: Noted social worker Abdul Sattar Edhi is leaving on Wednesday morning for Afghanistan via Quetta to distribute relief items among people in the landlocked country.

Speaking to Dawn, Mr Edhi said the Edhi Foundation based in the US had announced a relief fund of 700,000 dollars for the famine-hit and war-stricken Afghan people.

“This consignment comprises flour, medicines, woollen clothes and other essential items, costing about Rs150,000. It is the first relief effort from the Foundation’s fund for Afghan people,” Mr Edhi said.

He said he planned to go to Kandahar from where he would go to Pakistan’s bordering towns, Torkham and Parachinar, for his further journey in central and northern parts of Afghanistan.

Asked whether he had been given visa by the Afghan authorities, he said he would get special permit or permission for his visit to Afghanistan.

“If I’m not allowed to enter Afghanistan, I will hand over relief items to the authorities concerned for their dispatch to the Afghan people,” he said.

Answering a question, he said it would be his first visit to the landlocked country which would afford him an opportunity to witness human misery on the spot.

Asked whether he was mindful of the perils involved in his journey when the US-led alliance was carrying out bombing across Afghanistan, he said: “One should not be afraid while serving distressed humanity.”

“We have bought flour, and eight wagons full of relief items are ready in Quetta for departure to Kandahar,” he said adding that his wife, Bilquis, and a volunteer girl were also accompanying him in the visit.