The Miracle of Service

The report tells the story of a man from Karachi named Abdul Sattar Edhi. Over forty years of service, he earned extraordinary respect and affection in his community. In Mr. Mahadevan’s words, even Karachi’s criminals respect him. Once, when a gunfight broke out between the police and a gang of bandits on the city’s outskirts, Edhi immediately drove to the scene in an ambulance. As soon as he arrived, the bandits stopped firing. Edhi quickly lifted the body of a sub-inspector and placed it in his vehicle. The bandits waited impatiently for him to leave, signaling with their hands for him to go back. Once he had departed, they resumed firing at the police. How did a man reach such a position, where even criminals lowered their guns at his presence? The reason was not his name, Abdul Sattar. Nor was it because of protests, demands, rallies, or speeches. There was only one reason: service to humanity. Through forty years of selfless work, Abdul Sattar Edhi won a place where even outlaws bowed before him. Abdul Sattar Edhi, aged 55, was a Pakistani migrant. In 1947, he left Gujarat and moved to Karachi. At first, he worked in a shop that sold clothes and medicines. He often witnessed situations where a patient or accident victim desperately needed an ambulance, but because no ambulance arrived on time, the person died in agony. This gave him the idea of starting a charitable ambulance service.