Adil Najam
My posts over the last few days have all been designed to build up to this (here, here and here).
Irrespective of whether Abdul Sattar Edhi is a Pakistani or not, irrespective of how much most Pakistanis hold his selfless zeal in reverence – and irrespective also of all the ways in which a few have tried to malign him – I believe that Abdul Sattar Edhi deserves a Nobel Peace Prize. I need your help in putting together a nominations package.
I do not wish to make this a nationalistic thing. He would not like that. For me it is a humanistic thing. As he has made clear again and again, humanism and humanitarianism is more important than everything else; certainly it is bigger than nationalism.
Here is a man who has dedicated his whole life to serving the most marginalized and the most wretched in society. The destitutes, the mentally ill, corpses left by the roadside, children abandoned at his doorsteps, women kicked out by their families. When there is no one to go to, there is always Edhi Sahib to go to.
As importantly, he has done this – in his words – ‘wholesale’. He has single handedly built – literally by begging – a social services structure at a national scale. Bigger than what governments have. He has never taken a ruppee as salary himself. He lives in a two room apartment that most middle class Pakistanis would not call home and he oversees the largest ambulance network in the world, now with airplanes and helicopters, a multi-million dollar enterprise of relief, of goodwill, and of humanitarianism. If he does not deserve the Nobel Award, I do not know who does.
As I had mentioned in the last post, the Edhi Foundation is collecting signatures on a petition that he be given the Nobel Award. I like other bloggers (here, here, and here) would urge you to sign that petition and join the thousands others who already have.
But I think we can do a little more. Here is how.
I checked out the website of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee and looked at their nominations procedure. It is not clear whether they accept petitions or not, but it turns out that they do have categories of individuals who can make nominations (which are due by February 1). One of those categories is “university professors of social science, history, philosophy, law and theology.” I am not sure if I have much standing with them, but I fit into that category, and therefore I believe I have the ability to formally send in a nomination, and I plan to write in a nomination letter over the next few days.
What I would like to do, then, is to ask you all to write your own testimonials to why Abdul Sattar Edhi deserves a Nobel Award in the comments section. We want to gather as many testimonials/comments as possible.
Personal stories and examples of how he touches people’s lives and meets the ideals of the Nobel Peace Prize are especially useful.
So let me please request you for your help. If you agree with me that Abdul Sattar Edhi deserves a Nobel Peace Prize:
- Please leave a testimonial in the comments section saying that he deserved the award why you believe that Abdul Sattar Edhi deserves a Nobel Peace Prize.
- Please email this post to your friends and ask them to do the same.
- If you are a blogger, please spread the word on your blogs and to your readers and ask those who agree with my proposition to leave a testimonial.
And to meet the deadline we need to do all of this in the next few days. I have no pretensions that a letter from one professor will do the trick. But since I have this ability, I want to at least give it a shot. At least we would be able to say, we tried.
What do you say, folks?
Abdul Sattar Edhi is synonymous for Trust, Honesty, and Hope. He is not a man but an institution. His charity work has touched almost every life in Pakistan, a country where the masses live in poverty, who cannot afford even to bury the dead, feed a hungry mouth, a blanket in the winter. But then comes Edhi shahib and he gives all a hope, that yes we all can survive if take care of each other.
I always when have given my old clothes away or donated money, I have done so only at the Edhi Center. The famous cot outside all Edhi centers have give life to the so many ‘unwanted’ children.
He lives a humble life, never wanting anything for himself, only looking and thinking about how he can make the life around him better.
His foundation provider shelter, food, education, and hope to all those who have none.
In short, Abdul Sattar Edhi deserves the Noble Prize for Peace as he is working at the ground level to eliminate the social taboos of poverty and uplifting the poor. Economic development of a nation does not even start if poverty prevails.
He deserves the noble prize.
What Edhi has been able to achieve in the loveless, skeptical streets of Karachi is rare: respect, trust, adulation. A lifetime of tireless social work behind him, Edhi stands alone among the public figures in Pakistan as an incomparable giant whose integrity is beyond question. His foundation runs a network of ambulances which have virutally supplanted the woefully inadequete provisions of the government-run healthcare system. No more were his services more visible and more appreciated than during the ethnic and political riots of the late 80s in the city. With the city under curfew and riddled with casualties of violence, Edhi’s ambulances and volunteers rushed about fearlessly to the most dangerous of areas to rescue the wounded and retrieve the dead. Hateful mobs would put down their weapons at the sight of an Edhi ambulance, regretably to resume after the rescuers left. Edhi himself commandeered one of these ambulances and set the example for his corps.
Karachi has recovered from those ugly days but Edhi’s stature and contributions remain unadulterated. His foundation runs hospitals, shelters, rehab centers, funeral homes and the signature ambulance services; run by a man who has never owned more than two outfits, who has done this all without accepting a single penny from any government or political institution, who believes in charity and in defying, in his own words, ” the disgust of man towards mankind”.
It is time the world recognizes this saint of a person who has played a savior to literally millions of Pakistani familes over the years.
Word’s spread … I guess he’s the ONE person every Pakistani LOVES and RESPECTS … I remember when Edhi was teh very first Pakistani to reach Lebanon in israel-lebanon war recently , I felt such great love for him … We all feel proud to have him …. may allah bless you – we can’t be more thankful to ya …!
Everytime I see an Edhi Ambulance rushing through the heavy traffic to save a life I think to myself how can someone be so selflessly devoted to humanity. So much kindness and such sincere efforts without asking for anything in return.
Nobel Prize to Mr. & Mrs. Edhi would be an acknowledgement of such selfless and devoted efforts to make this world worth living and helping the humanity without expecting anything in return.