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?
It is nothing for the efforts of Mr. Abdul Sattar Edhi But could be moral for our self. He is honest man & working as an angel for the human being. No doubt of his efforts.
Aamir Malik
Actions speak louder than words- and the good done by Edhi is evident – he definately deserves a recognition for his scintillating efforts.
The world must have realized earlier the unparalled services imparted by Mr.Edhi for the cause of humanily; and off-course.
I strongly believe if the world examines / evaluates Mr.Edhi name on merit , it will be among the toppers.
I expect the selectors of Noble Prize for the right understading of Mr.Edhi serives for humanity
No one can take time to deny his abilities and his entire demeanor. He sits ideally over the image of Noble Prize Winner. He’s well deseving…….
I want to thank you for taking this effort. I have earlier seen a few signature campaigns and always wondered why people think that just getting a lot of ‘votes’ will be the criteria for an award like this. I see many comments here that just saw that we ‘support’ an award for Edhi. That is all very good but the question as you say is WHY we support him and what it is about his work that the world should focus on. So let me say what I think is important about what he is and has done.
What Edhi has proved to Pakistanis and to the world is that all the excuses we always make about why things are not better are only excuses and if someone has the conviction and will to change then they can bring about change.
1. We say our problems are so bad because our people are illiterate and that is the real cause. WRONG. Edhi has proved that illiteracy is not a barrier. He has only 4 years of education and has achieved what all the educated people in Pakistan cannot.
2. We say our problems are so bad because our governments have been bad, because we have martial laws and lack of democracy. WRONG. Edhi has proved that one person with true zeal and desire to change can bring about change.
3. We say our problems are so bad because small changes do not make a difference when the problems are so big. WRONG. Edhi has proved that small steps can lead to big change. Here is one single man who has turned around the lives of literally of millions others.
4. We say our problems are so bad because either people have forgotten religion or become too religious. WRONG. Edhi has proved that religion is not even a factor what matters is a goodness of heart. Here is a religious person who has defined both the extremes and while the people on the extreme debated he went out and brought change.
5. We say our problems are so bad because the rest of the world does not help us enough. WRONG. Edhi has proved that we do not need Aid or help, in fact we can even help the rest of the world, all we need is a belief in ourselves and the conviction to bring change.
This, I think, is why Edhi deserves the Nobel Award. To societies like Pakistan where so many people have given up hope of anything changing, he brings hope and he reminds us all that excuses do not matter, only action does.
I pray for the success of your nomination efforts.