KARACHI, Pakistan; The funeral prayer of Pakistani philanthropist and Edhi Foundation Chairman Abdul Sattar Edhi was offered with the state honour at the National Stadium in Karachi on Saturday afternoon with country’s top civilian and military leadership attending the ceremony.
Later as the body of world renowned humanitarian left the Stadium for burial at Edhi Village in Karachi, a smartly turned-out contingent of Pakistan Army presented guard of honour to Abdul Sattar Edhi and also honored him with 19-gun salute.
“As the state carriage leaves the stadium 19 guns salute begins- #state funeral Edhi Sahib,” the Director General Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Lt General Asim Bajwa said in a twitter message.
Edhi was only the third person in Pakistan history after Quaid-e-Azam and former President General Ziaul Haq whose funeral was given gun carriage or carriage on wheels, a military tradition of state funerals inherited from British Royal Artillery which carried coffin of Late Queen Victoria.
Strict security measures had been taken place at the National Stadium where President Mamnoon Hussain and the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif were also among the attendees.
Other top civilian and military leaders who attended the funeral prayer of Abdul Sattar Edhi included Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, Sindh Governor Ishratul Ibad, Chairman Senate Raza Rabbani, Federal Minister Ahsan Iqbal, Corps Commander Karachi Lt General Naveed Mukhtar, DG ISPR Lt General Asim Bajwa, Sindh Police IG AD Khawaja and Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Muhammad Zakaullah.
Earlier, Abdul Sattar Edhi’s dead body was brought from his residence at Methadar to the National Stadium led by an escort of the Naval Police.
The 88-year-old Abdul Sattar Edhi breathed his last on Friday night at the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) where he had been under treatment since July 5. He was suffering from kidney failure.
Before funeral prayer being offered, an operation was conducted to extract Edhi’s cornea for donation.
“He wished to be buried in the same clothes he used to wear. He also wanted to donate his body parts but only his cornea can be donated as the rest of his organs were not in a healthy condition,” Edhi’s son Faisal Edhi told media.
