A Saint of Pakistani People: Legendary Humanitarian Hero Gets State Funeral
Islamabad (dpa) - Pakistan observed a day of national mourning on Saturday as a state funeral began for leading philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi who died overnight in the southern city of Karachi, officials said.
The 88-year-old revered social worker died shortly before midnight at a clinic when his kidneys failed during a dialysis, his son Faisal Edhi said.
His Edhi Foundation is Pakistan's largest charity and runs the country's biggest ambulance service, several orphanages, a network of hundreds of clinics, shelter homes for women and numerous other welfare projects.
Born to a middle class family in 1928 in the city of Gujarat in India before the partition of the sub-continent, Edhi began his charitable work with a healthcare centre in Karachi in the 1950s.
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced a state funeral and a day of national mourning.
"If anybody deserves to be buried wrapped in the national flag, it is him (Edhi)," Sharif said in a statement.
The chief ministers of Pakistan's ministries and Army Chief Raheel Sharif were expected to attend the funeral, the military said.
Edhi was honoured with Pakistan's highest award, the Lenin peace prize, the UNESCO Madanjeet Singh Award for the promotion of tolerance with a Belgian rights activist and several other honours in his own country and Europe.
Pakistan teenage Nobel peace laureate Malala Yousafzai expressed her condolences, calling it a national loss.
"Edhi passed away but his legacy of serving humanity will never die," she said in a statement.
His Edhi Foundation is Pakistan's largest charity and runs the country's biggest ambulance service, several orphanages, a network of hundreds of clinics, shelter homes for women and numerous other welfare projects.
Born to a middle class family in 1928 in the city of Gujarat in India before the partition of the sub-continent, Edhi began his charitable work with a healthcare centre in Karachi in the 1950s.
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced a state funeral and a day of national mourning.
"If anybody deserves to be buried wrapped in the national flag, it is him (Edhi)," Sharif said in a statement.
The chief ministers of Pakistan's ministries and Army Chief Raheel Sharif were expected to attend the funeral, the military said.
Edhi was honoured with Pakistan's highest award, the Lenin peace prize, the UNESCO Madanjeet Singh Award for the promotion of tolerance with a Belgian rights activist and several other honours in his own country and Europe.
Pakistan teenage Nobel peace laureate Malala Yousafzai expressed her condolences, calling it a national loss.
"Edhi passed away but his legacy of serving humanity will never die," she said in a statement.