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?
Edhi’s work for the suffering humanity in Pakistan alone is majestic and deserves the highest recognitions, honours and awards. Mohammad Younis introduced the Garmeen Bank which directly benefitted the poor of Bangladesh but its concept showed the way to many other countries. It took over 20 years for Younis to be recognised by the Nobel Committee.
Edhi Sahib’s humanitarian work has not been limited to Pakistan alone. However, his work for humanity the world over is not well known and need to be brought out in much clearer and forceful terms. After all it is an international award that we are aiming at, therefore, his worldwide work would be of cosequence.
Overall, to show the Scale,Scope and range of his work a Matrix or a Chart of his work may be added to the descriptive write-up in the nomination proposal.
The fact that Edhi has not yet been awarded the nobel prize is actually a shame for the nobel committee. As someone said, awarding Edhi will raise the prestige of the nobel prize.
I vaguely recall some sort of awards show on PTV at least 16 years ago. To the annoyance of the audience, and the guests, there were some who making some inappropriate noise. No matter who came to the stage, usually dressed in their fanciest, they just wouldn’t shut up.
Then the Edhis walked on, in their simple Shalwar-Kameez and chappals. There was absolute, pin-drop silence!
I think Ibrahim has mentioned this in his comment but not emphasized on it.
The cradles that we see outside the Edhi centers for abandoned children were the first of their kind in Pakistan for children whose parents abandoned them for any reason. I have myself seen children in those cradles and i think this cradle might just be the only right thing in the life of such children.
Also i think emphasizing on the work that the foundation is doing in terms of prisoners aid is important.
Pakistan lacks health and relief services at the basic level and Edhi foundation is the only mainstay when it comes to emergency relief in this country.
he desrve the best he should be nominated for the nobil prize my support for him all the way.
I fully support Adil Najam in his effort to nominate Abdul Sattar Edhi for the Nobel peace prize.
From Leboanon to Lahore, from Baam (iran) to Banda Achay( in Indonesia), Edhi Sahib was there for relief work where it was needed the most.
Good luck Adil Bhai on your work regarding the nomination, I really hope you are able to persuade the Nobel Committee and above all Edhi Sahab receives what he really deserves. The only thing I would like to add to all the above accolades is whenever its time to donate any money to any charity in Pakistan, Edhi Trust is the only name always on the top of everyone’s list, even the biggest skeptics who beleive their money will not reach the deserving donate to Edhi Trust without any doubts in their minds. The fact that Edhi Sahab and his foundation has garnered so much trust in the eyes of almost every Pakistani (and many non-Pakistanis) speaks volumes about his work.
Salamalikum,
Edhi is a humble and non-assuming person. His network looks after people of every age and walk of life. From those cradles outside Edhi houses for people to leave their infants instead of doing some sort of harm to them to feeding the poor to providing ambulance service to the sick.
Although I believe his greatest reward will be with Allah, inshaAllah, he does deserve the Noble Prize, if only because today’s world finds that prize to be the best affirmation of someone’s greatness.