KARACHI: Distingui­shed social activist Bilquis Edhi, who passed away on Friday night at the age of 74, was laid to rest at the Mewa Shah graveyard on Saturday afternoon.

Earlier, her funeral prayers were held at Memon Masjid, Boltan Market after Zohr.

The strip of road connecting I. I. Chundrigar Road to M. A. Jinnah Road (where Memon Masjid is located) was cordoned off from the Mithadar police station’s side. The shops and stores on both sides of the thoroughfare were also closed.

The Zohr prayers at the mosque were held at 1.15pm, but by 1pm not a huge number of people had turned up for the funeral because of, perhaps, hot weather conditions — as the sun had just begun to beat down on Karachi. The number of mourners increased considerably 10 or so minutes before the funeral prayers.

There was a heavy contingent of police, along with Rangers, in and around the area.

When an Edhi ambulance carrying Ms Edhi’s body arrived, it was immediately encircled by the media. Faisal Edhi, the son of renowned philanthropist late Abdul Sattar Edhi and Mrs Edhi, looked extremely sad on the occasion.

Talking to Dawn, he said, “It’s a huge loss. Edhi sahib’s death did not affect our work that much, but now it’s going to be affected. The reason is that she was the one who ran the system. We were only there to supervise (hum sirf nigrani kertey thay). So was Edhi sahib. She used to do the whole work. It is a huge loss for our organisation. We pray that we are able to bear this loss and someone is able to replace her.”

The political dignitaries present on the occasion were Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, Karachi Administrator Murtaza Wahab, Information Minister Saeed Ghani, Hafiz Naeemur Rehman of the Jamaat-i-Islami, Khurram Sher Zaman of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, Nihal Hashmi of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and others.

Ms Edhi was born in 1947. A nurse by profession, she was 19 years of age when she got married to Abdul Sattar Edhi. After her husband’s death in 2016, she took charge of the Edhi Foundation, along with her son Faisal, and ran the organisation to serve humanity. She did that tirelessly and consistently. She was the recipient of the 1986 Ramon Magsaysay Award.

Ms Edhi’s soyem will be held at Memon Masjid on Sunday (today) after Zohr prayers.

Published in Dawn, April 17th, 2022