‘Indians remember her fondly’: PM offers condolences for Pakistan activist Bilquis Edhi

On Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences on the death of Bilquis Bano Edhi, a prominent activist and philanthropist in Pakistan. PM Modi praised her contribution to global civilization and stated that Indians too remember her affectionately.

‘My sincere condolences on the passing of Bilquis Edhi. Her lifelong dedication to humanitarian work touched the lives of people across the globe. People in India, too, remember her fondly. May her soul rest in peace’, PM Modi wrote in a tweet.

According to a family member, Bilquis Edhi, the widow of Pakistan’s famous and beloved humanitarian-philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi, passed away on Friday in a private hospital. She was 74 years old at the time. Bilquis and her husband collaborated to establish the Abdul Sattar Edhi Foundation, a welfare organisation that received international acclaim for its humanitarian activities in a variety of fields.

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After her husband died in July 2016, Bilquis continued the foundation’s massive work with her son Faisal Edhi, who confirmed her death to the public. He stated his mum was brought to the hospital earlier this week after her blood pressure plummeted unexpectedly.

Bilquis encountered issues in the hospital, according to Faisal, since she had congestive heart failure and had already undergone bypass surgery twice. He stated that his mother’s funeral will be announced soon.

Bilquis, who dedicated her life to helping people for more than six decades, was well-known for initiating a programme to place jhoolas (cradles) in Edhi homes and centres around the country, where unwanted newborns may be placed by their mothers or families instead of being abandoned somewhere. She was dubbed the Mother of Pakistan and received numerous national and international honours, including the Hilal-i-Imtiaz, the Lenin Peace Prize, the Mother Teresa Memorial International Award for Social Justice (2015), and the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service, which she and her husband received in 1986.

She was also selected Person of the Decade by an international organisation last year, with UN human rights rapporteur Prof. Yanghee Lee and US ethicist Stephen Soldz.