National Stadium Karachi was surrounded by armed personnel on 9th July at Pakistan’s greatest philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi. Everyone had to go through several security barriers to enter the stadium. Thousands of common people, who wanted to attend this great man’s funeral were not allowed to enter the stadium. The so called reason was, VVIP protocol.
The people were barred from attending the funeral because a few national dignitaries were attending the funeral. Thus the farewell of a great person was hijacked by VVIPS. The person who dedicated his entire life to the welfare of poor people and always resisted the idea of VIP protocol, was at the mercy of the same VVIPS on his death.
Edhi always lived among the masses and never carried a guard or any other security with him. The common people should’ve been at the front rows and the VIPs at the back but it was unfortunate that VIPs pushed some of the poor back and most of them out of the stadium.
If these VIPs were adamant to attend this funeral they could have arranged a separate VIP funeral and let the common people attend the “common” funeral. But what’s done is done. Now that we have forgotten Edhi’s ideology immediately after his death, it is also a worrying factor to see whether our system will allow his heirs to carry forward his legacy? Will Edhi foundation be the same after his death? Only time will tell the answers of these questions. Let’s hope for the best.