Bilquis Bano Edhi, the wife of renowned humanitarian and philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi, passed away at the age of seventy four on Friday after a brief hospitalization.
As soon as the news of her demise broke, people belonging to all walks of life including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other political leaders expressed deep grief and sorrow.
Messiah like Bilquis indeed is borne once in generations. She always worked shoulder to shoulder with Abdul Sattar Edhi in his philanthropic work and even after the death of her husband, she continued the mission of serving the humanity with the same zeal and zest.
Bilquis was a professional nurse and spent more than six decades of her life serving humanity.
Her charity saved over thousands of unwanted babies by placing cradles at Edhi Homes and centres across the country.
She voluntarily underwent discomfort only for comfort of marginalized and vulnerable.
She was mother to countless orphans, a sister to grieving hearts and a compassionate and humane face of Pakistani society.
It is really not possible to appreciate and describe his words in words. Called the Mother of Pakistan, she was awarded various national and foreign awards including the Hilal-i-Imtiaz, the Lenin Peace Prize, Mother Teresa Memorial International Award for Social Justice (2015), and the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service, which she received along with her husband in 1986.
Just last year, she was also declared the Person of the Decade along with UN rapporteur on human rights Prof Yanghee Lee and the US ethicist Stephen Soldz by an international organisation.
Indeed her death is a monumental loss to Pakistan and the entire will always remain indebted and rememberher services.
We are confident that her son Faisal Edhi will take forward the legacy left behind by his parents with the same spirit and continue to extend a helping hand to the marginalized segments of the society.
We need more Edhis in our society and for this the life and struggle of Abdul Sattar Edhi and his wife be made part of curricula as this will encourage our young generations to follow their footprints.
