Abdul Sattar Edhi

Abdul Sattar Edhi

Abdul Sattar Edhi, Nishan-e-Imtiaz, (Urdu: عبد الستار ایدھی), or Edhi, as he is often known, is one of the most active philanthropists in Pakistan. He is head of the Edhi Foundation in Pakistan. Edhi foundation branches are spread all over world. His wife Begum Bilquis Edhi, heads the Bilquis Edhi Foundation. They both received 1986 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service. He is also the recipient of the Lenin Peace Prize. Maulana Edhi, as he is often referred to, is of the Memon community. According to the Guinness World Records, Edhi Foundation has the largest private ambulance service network in the world.

Early life
Edhi was born in 1928 in Bantva in the Gujarat state of present day India. His father was a textile trader and earned a modest income for his family. He was a natural born leader and would encourage his friends to hold tiny circuses and perform gymnastics for the locals. When his mother would send him to school she would give him two paisa, one to spend for himself and the other to spend for another. At the age of eleven he started to take care of his mother who suffered paralysis from severe diabetes. From an early age Edhi learned to help others before himself - this would be crucial to success in his life later on.

Starting up
'In 1947 his family migrated to Karachi, Pakistan after the Partition of India. In 1951, he start his own textile business. He also encouraged his friends to give literacy classes there. Edhi had spent his life a simple man, and would continue to do so. He slept on a concrete bench outside the dispensary so that he was available to help people at any time.

In 1957 a major flu epidemic swept Karachi, Edhi was quick to react, he set up tents on the outskirts of the city to distribute free immunizations. Grateful residents donated generously to Edhi and so did the rest of Pakistan after hearing of his deeds. With all the donation money he bought the rest of the building his dispensary was located in, and opened a free maternity centre and nursing school, and so Edhi Foundation was born.

Growth of Edhi Foundation
In the years that followed, Edhi Foundation grew through all of Pakistan. After the flu epidemic, a businessman donated a large sum to Edhi and with the money he purchased an ambulance vehicle which he drove himself. Today the Foundation has over 600 ambulances located all over the country. He himself continues to travel with call outs out of Karachi to the rest of the Sindh province. The response time and services the ambulances provide are unparalleled in all of Pakistan, being the first to reach the 2005 earthquake disaster in northern Pakistan and Kashmir.

Modern legacy
Today, not just in Pakistan nor in just the Muslim world, Abdul Sattar Edhi has earned a reputation as being one of the most selfless and honorable human beings today with a legacy decorated with many international honors and awards. Despite his fame and reputation, he continues to lead a simple life wearing the traditional Pakistani Shalwar Kameez, of which he owns only one or two, and one pair of slippers, which he has been thought to have worn for the last twenty years. This is despite the fact the Edhi Foundation has a $10 million budget, out of which he takes nothing for himself. His son Faisal once stated that when the Foundation was setting up in Afghanistan, local staff had purchased chairs for guests and the press when a new center was being opened. Upon his arrival, Edhi was furious because the money that was spent on the chairs could have been used to help people. That same night, he slept on the clinic floor with the rest of the ambulance drivers.

Today, Edhi Foundation continues to grow. Dr Edhi, looking to the future, has stated that he aims to build a hospital every 500 km in Pakistan. Although he is given the title Maulana out of respect, he himself dislikes the title as he has never been to a religious school and he is not an Islamic cleric. He prefers being called 'Doctor' as he has received an honorary doctorate from The Institute of Business Administration in Pakistan for services to humanity.[1] He is also famous for being very shy about his popularity and when people personally praise him for his work. He also refuses to accept donations from governments or formal religious organisations, because according to him they set 'conditions'. Both General Zia-ul-Haq and the Italian government sent him generous donations, which he sent back.

In 1996 his autobiography, A Mirror to the Blind was published.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, as of 1997, Edhi Foundation's ambulance service is the largest volunteer ambulance service in the world.[2] He also personally holds the world record for having gone the longest time working without having taken a holiday. As of when the record was set, he has still not taken a single day off work.

Honors received

International awards

1986 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service
1988 Lenin Peace Prize
1992 Paul Harris Fellow Rotary International Foundation
In 2000, Edhi was awarded the International Balzan Prize for Humanity, Peace and Brotherhood.
On 26 March 2005, Edhi was presented with the Life Time Achievement Award by the World Memon Organisation (WMO).
On 11 November 2006, Edhi was presented with an Honorary Doctorate Degree by the Institute of Business Administration Karachi (IBA).

National awards

Nishan-e-Imtiaz from Government of Pakistan 1989.
Human Rights Award by Pakistan Human Rights Society.
Khidmat Award by Pakistan Academy of Medical Sciences.
Shield of Honour by Pakistan Army (E & C).
Silver Jubilee Shield by College of Physicians and Surgeons, Pakistan.(1962-1987)
Recognition of meritorious services to oppressed humanity during the eighties (1989) by Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Government of Pakistan. 45 Years Of Selfless Service.
The Social Worker of Sub-Continent - 1989 by Government of Sind
Pakistan Civic Award 1992 - by Pakistan Civic Society.

very nice good to know about Edhi Sahib & yaar when i seem you Nick PhP_Web then i think yor liked php, php is very nice language and i like it too and i want ot learn it when i start it i am confuesed in Loops hahahaha specily in While and Do While hahahha Embarassed

while ( conditional statement is true){
//do this code;
}

are more ok see whats u done Wink

meet in computer section here not its good to talk Wink

Thanks enjoy.

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Un|ty |n MusL|ms!

very nice friend

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He is a living legend, an example of devotion, an inspiration, an institution!

Edhi’s achievements are unique in the sense that they are not funded by any religious,
political group, a showbiz star or by any government. Just a Simple man!

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Well if somebody do ask, i mean to let me do my choice.. i'l make him President till last..... Very Happy

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	iqbal wrote:
	Well if somebody do ask, i mean to let me do my choice.. i'l make him President till last.....

Good choice! but he is not corrupt. Smile

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he is an iconic figure in the history of pakistan. he has really served the country in true spirits....

i think he should join politics

yeh thi is a very good job Very Happy

Really nice job

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*(`'·.¸(`'·.¸*¤*¸.·'´)¸.·'´)*
«´¨`·.Shakeel Ahmed ..·´¨`»
*(¸.·'´(¸.·'´*¤*`'·.¸)`'·.¸)*

(((**A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes**))

I don't have such a nice words for such a nice personality
but infact he is the man of HONUR....and DIGNITY...

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CheerzZ

AlwayzZ
DreamzZ

	DreamzZ wrote:
	I don't have such a nice words for such a nice personality but infact he is the man of HONUR....and DIGNITY...

Pefect dud

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*(`'·.¸(`'·.¸*¤*¸.·'´)¸.·'´)*
«´¨`·.Shakeel Ahmed ..·´¨`»
*(¸.·'´(¸.·'´*¤*`'·.¸)`'·.¸)*

(((**A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes**))

He is a gift from God for us though we dont deserve such a precious gift. Can you imagine few years back he was even receiving life threats and was asked not to help people against a certain community. He was so upset he had to give a statement that if he keeps on getting these threats he will leave Pakistan and he also explained that there are many countries who are more than willing to accept him. Thats why I say we are unthankfull to our real heroes and stupid to praise our corrupt politicians. Rolling Eyes

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Edhi faces deportation

NEW YORK, Jan 28: US authorities have threatened Pakistan’s most respected citizen Abdul Sattar Edhi with deportation, he said.

“I just received a telephone call from someone, telling me that I am being deported,” Mr Edhi, who is now in New York told Dawn.

He said he was stopped at the airport in London when he tried to board a plane for New York on Jan 8.

Mr Edhi then contacted the US Embassy in London who gave him a letter which allowed him to proceed to New York. The letter also advised him to see US authorities on Feb 18 to clear whatever misunderstandings they may have about him.

Mr Edhi arrived in New York on Jan 9 and was detained at the airport for eight hours.

“They were questioning me why I look the way I look,” said Mr Edhi who has a long beard and always wears traditional Pakistani dress along with a traditional cap.

“They also wanted to know why I visit the United States so regularly,” he said. “I told them I am a social worker. What else I do? I only do social work,” said Mr Edhi who has branches of his trust in several US cities.

“If they do not let me work here, I will work somewhere else.”
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SHAME ON PAKISTANI POLICIES... it can't even protect person like Mr Edhi.

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Guy in the picture is Above Law but NOT U & ME.

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Shame on america aswell..they talk about human rights and everything and then they stop a respectable man just because of how he looks..Thats awful..

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"Before you judge a person, walk a mile in his shoes. After that...... who cares? He's a mile behind you & the shoes are yours"
....

v good

Outrageous Mad

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BBC NEWS
Pakistan aid worker stuck in US
By M Ilyas Khan
BBC News, Karachi

A prominent Pakistani social worker, Abdus Sattar Edhi, says he is stranded in New York because US immigration officials have taken his passport.

Mr Edhi runs the largest social welfare network in Pakistan, and has offices in several countries, including the US.

Officials interrogated him for over eight hours at JFK airport on 9 January and then took his passport, he says.

Mr Edhi told the BBC that while he was allowed to enter the US, the passport has still not been returned to him.

'Interrogation'

"I am a man of emergencies, I need to be on the move, to be where the suffering is, but here I have been sitting idle for 20 days because I cannot travel without my passport," he told the BBC from New York.

His Edhi Welfare Trust runs hundreds of ambulances, a helicopter ambulance, as well as homes for children, women, the mentally ill and drug addicts.

It has run relief operations in Africa, the Middle East, the Caucasus region, eastern Europe and even the US, when it helped provide aid following the New Orleans hurricane of 2005.

Mr Edhi said that officials of the Pakistani embassy and the US state department are helping him to recover his confiscated passport.

"During the interrogation, they wanted to know why I travelled to the US so frequently," he said.

"I told them about the nature of my work, but they did not understand. They also wanted to know why I was not living in the US in spite of having a green card."

'Communist'

This is not the first time that Mr Edhi has run into trouble with immigration officials abroad.

In 2006, he was detained for 16 hours at an airport in Toronto, Canada, and had to miss his flight. In 2007, he was again detained for eight hours at an airport in New York.

On both occasions, his travel documents were not confiscated and he was allowed to proceed after interrogation.

In the early 1980s, he was arrested by Israeli troops while entering Lebanon to deliver aid to Palestinian refugees whose camps were attacked by the Israeli jets.

He was freed when his credentials were verified.

"The only explanation I can think of is my beard and my dress," he said when asked why he had been stopped so often.

Once branded as a "communist" by his detractors because of his liberal views and his welfare activities, the 78-year-old sports a flowing beard and dresses strictly in Pakistani shalwar-kameez and a sheepskin skullcap.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/7215145.stm

Published: 2008/01/29 12:21:44 GMT

© BBC MMVIII

He should be released..he is very peaceful person and has received many awards for his peaceful works

ANd he is an indian by birth...... Laughing

	rohit_bangalore wrote:
	He should be released..he is very peaceful person and has received many awards for his peaceful works ANd he is an indian by birth......

Then enjoy it. Wink

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I do believe on Ghosts.