COVER STORY the state and the community of their responsibility for giving the people the cover of social welfare. How can you describe as non-political a person who treats the sick and provides shelter to the homeless and tells each head of government who meets him to concentrate on the state’ s social welfare obligations? It is impossible to treat as non-political a man who declared his adherence to socialist ideals and often discussed socialism with a son who had studied in the United States. Edhi’ s disclaimers in this regard only betray his desire not to be counted with self-seekers parading themselves as politicians in this country. Trying to assess Edhi’ s greatness by the amount of work done by him will demand much sure space than is available at the moment. Another, and perhaps better, way to know the real Edhi is to appreciate his philosophy of public service. He sometimes described himself as a social reformer and this is what he essentially was. The key to his character lay in his belief in the dignity of human person and the right to life of all human beings regardless of one’ s faith, gender, domicile or social status. It was his belief in human dignity and its survival after death that Edhi took care of unclaimed bodies. He would keep bodies in a cold morgue so that they did not decompose and he would lovingly wash mutilated, disfigured bodies because respect for the dead led him to respect and love for the living. He created a large band of workers for rushing victims of accidents, violence and disasters to hospitals as quickly as possible because he believed in the latter’ s right to life and their fellow beings’ duty to help them. As a social reformer he promoted ideas of progressive change through action and not by preaching alone. For example:- Edhi often spoke of the rights’ of women and of the need to mobilise them in various fields of activity. By advancing the role of Bilquis Edhi as his partner in his mission he promoted the ideal of respect for women and gender equality. When he had finished telling his life story to one of his biographers he asked the latter to listen to Bilquis Edhi’ s story as that would complete the account of their indivisible lives.- Edhi rejected the cruel treatment of babies born out of wedlock. Not only that he did not attach any blame to such infants, he did not consider it necessary to denounce the natural parents either. He simply called the babies children born of love and had palnas ople to put the unwanted newborns in these cradles instead of throwing them on heaps of rubbish or depositing them near mosques out of their faith in the goodness of the pious ones. Simply by initiating this scheme Edhi not only saved many lives, he also made a decisive assault on a social evil which most people still dare not condemn by words even.- Perhaps Edhi’ s most outstanding achievement is that he lifted the concept of serving the poor from a charitable undertaking to one of the community’ s foremost obligations. In a way he put the rulers and policymakers to shame— for neglecting their duty to the citizens, especially the poor. Perhaps that is the reason attempts are being made by men in authority to paint Edhi in their own images. The challenge Edhi has left for his successors is that they will continue his mission as a movement for social reform and not merely as a charity.
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