Edhi | Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The district administration on Saturday denied that it had sealed Edhi’s office in Aabpara “at any point” after the rescue service said its control room had been sealed. At the same time, in a statement, the Islamabad administration said the control room had been built on land owned by the Capital Development Authority (CDA). The administration asserted that while eviction notices had been served, no action had been taken yet to enforce them. The responses came after a statement was issued by Edhi’s Zonal office in Islamabad, which stated that its “Edhi Centre (ambulance control room) established in Aabpara for the past 40 years has been shut down by the administration”. As a result, Edhi said it was unable to continue its emergency services in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, which would “remain suspended till the administration provides us with an alternative place”. In its statement, the Edhi service insisted that the district commissioner’s office did not give any reason for the closure, nor did it re...

Three sanitation workers died as they fell into a manhole while cleaning it in Karachi’s Usmanabad neighbourhood, Edhi officials said on Sunday. Deaths from falling into open gutters and manholes frequently occur in Pakistan, particularly in major cities like Karachi, where poorly managed drainage systems, missing or broken covers, and inadequate lighting in congested neighbourhoods often put pedestrians in danger. The gutters are filled with toxic sewage and lack oxygen, making it easy to suffocate or drown within minutes. “Four people fell into a drain near Siddique Wahab Road while cleaning it, three of whom lost their lives, while another remains unconscious,” the Edhi statement said. The deceased have been identified as 22-year-old Vishal, 19-year-old Shahir, and 42-year-old George. The fourth man — identified as 26-year-old Faisal — was rushed to the Civil Hospital’s Trauma Centre, while the bodies of the deceased have been shifted to an Edhi morgue. Police surgeon Sumaiya Syed told Dawn.com that the wo...

This article was originally published on July 8, 2016. Abdul Sattar Edhi collects donations at a roadside in Peshawar. — AP Photo Here is a tribute one always expected to write. Dreaded, but expected. Because one knew nobody, not even Edhi sahib, the one true permanent fixture of life in Karachi, can live forever. And yet, where does one begin? How does one write about true greatness? When it seems everyone already has remarkable stories to share about Abdul Sattar Edhi. In my lifetime, I have not come across anyone who touched so many lives in so many different ways. What can then one say that does not sound trite and predictable? In the face of a persona that is as much of a Colossus — straddling ethnic, class and religious divides — one is forced to fall back on personal recollections of a personality that was the opposite: humble, supremely matter-of-fact, ordinary, very, very human. Also read: Edhi’s eyes become source of vision for two blind persons I became aware of the man at quite a young age. My mot...