Abdul Sattar Edhi: Bhagat Puran Singh of Pak

The other day when I visited the museum at the Pingalwara house in Amritsar, I chanced upon a man who was clicking photographs depicting the various facets of life and works of Bhagat Puran Singh. In the process, he was also jotting down some points in Urdu on a small writing pad.

As the history of the Pingalwara house was written on the board in Punjabi, the man came to me to seek my help. Very politely, he introduced himself as a citizen of Pakistan. Responding to his request, I read out everything to him. I also took him around the place and apprised him about the noble works of Bhagat Puran Singh.

Overwhelmed by the selfless service that Bhagat ji rendered to humanity, the visitor from across the border became highly emotional and to pay his respects to Bhagat ji, he prostrated on the ground and reverentially touched photographs of the great social worker. He also donated Rs 2,000 to the Pingalwara house. To reciprocate the visitor’s gesture, the sewadar of the Pinagalwara offered a set of books to him. Amongst these was a book on Abdul Sattar Edhi.

Since I knew nothing about Edhi, I curiously asked the sewadar about the man. Before he could reply, the visitor from across the border chipped in and told me enthusiastically that what Bhagat Puran Singh and Mother Teresa were to India, Edhi was to Pakistan.

I too got a copy of the book and spent the next two days with Edhi. After I finished the reading of the book, I realised that like Bhagat ji, Edhi was a saint who single-handedly changed the face of welfare endeavours in Pakistan. He founded the Edhi Foundation that ran the world’s largest volunteer ambulance network along with rehabilitation centres for sick humans and animals across Pakistan.

He begged at roadsides to collect funds to raise an ‘empire for the poor and the neglected’. A winner of various national and international awards, he never succumbed to arrogance. He rather worked with zeal and zest for the marginalised and the children of a lesser God. The Edhi Foundation had rescued over 20,000 abandoned infants.

A school drop-out though he was, Edhi was more educated than those who held degrees from the top universities of the world. “People have become educated, but have not yet become human,” he often used to say. Edhi lived for the poor and the destitute. When he was a child, his mother’s training to share his money with his poor class mates metamorphosed Edhi into a saviour of the unfortunate.

A man who always put his duty to the suffering humanity above everything in life, Edhi never fell a prey to temptations. Nor did he give in to any hurdles. Once when he was on his way to reach an accident site, he received a message mid-air that his beloved grandson Bilal had died. But this did not stop Edhi to attend to the victims of the accident. He reached the accident site, after sending an instruction back home that Bilal’s last rites be performed in his absence.

I think that saints like Edhi, Bhagat Puran Singh and Mother Teresa belong to all. They do not belong to a nation. They belong to humanity. They are the real ambassadors of peace. The hostilities between India and Pakistan could cease permanently if both the nations muster up the courage to walk on the golden path shown by them.

HE BEGGED AT ROADSIDES TO COLLECT FUNDS TO RAISE AN ‘EMPIRE FOR THE POOR ’. A WINNER OF MANY NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL AWARDS, HE NEVER SUCCUMBED TO ARROGANCE