Abdul Malik Soomro
Now it has been 4 years to the death of greatest philanthropist and humanitarian, Abdul Sattar Edhi who
founded the Edhi Foundation from its base in inner Karachi in 1951 later spread nationwide.
Undoubtedly, Abdul Sattar Edhi achieved an unprecedented milestone while handling and managing his
organization with a motive to serve humanity without any prejudice. Edhi foundation provides a wide
range of services from ambulances, orphanages, Blood banks as well as support for elder and disabled.
In Addition to it, the concept of Edhi Jhula saved thousands of abandoned lives. It was a long time since
that state did something at this symbolic level. Whenever the state fails to cope with an emergency Edhi
foundation Fills up a huge vacuum left by the state. Death of Abdul Sattar Edhi plunged his organization
into a Financial crisis as the flow of donation has significantly plummeted. During his lifetime, the Edhi
foundation stood on the pillar of his personal charisma. Those who supported Edhi never asked any
question or demanded any audit report because they Trusted him blindly. Less than five months after
Pakistan gave a gun carriage funeral to Abdul Sattar Edhi. Faisal Edhi, son of Abdul Sattar Edhi Said,”
Zakat and Other Donations have gone down by 40 percent. In addition to it, there is a drop of 30 percent
in Hide-collection on Eid ul Azha.” This is not the fault of those who are trying to fill his colossal shoes,
but because we a people of Pakistan, who built this great institution along Edhi, are losing interest in it.
Pakistan is among one of the most charitable countries just because of Edhi Foundation, A study
conducted by Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy shows that Pakistanis give around Rs240 billion annually
to charity. However, other reasons to decline in a donation to Edhi are the rise of other organizations
like JDC who have now shared the available funds of the Edhi Foundation. Faisal Edhi is still trying hard
to follow his Father's footsteps and has not left any stone unturned, he was one of the early
responders to the PIA flight 8303 crash in Karachi as well. To pen it off, All common Pakistanis are tower
of strength of this NGO from the very beginning and Pakistanis must reinforce the Edhi Foundation to
bring home the bacon because the Edhi foundation belongs to Everyone.
