All posts by Zubeida Mustafa

An unemotional look at Edhi

Archive Edition, Development and Poverty, Economy, Social Issues

 By Zubeida Mustafa

85-13-01-1995ABDUS SATTAR EDHI has been in the news ever since television brought him into the limelight with a programme on him in 1988. Pictures of him standing on the roadside to collect alms (bheek, to use his own word) are quite familiar to newspaper readers. Unfortunately, the maulana (as he is fondly called because of his shaggy beard) was forced to leave the country recently when he felt threatened. His statements accusing unnamed agencies of trying to eliminate him politicised him, which is not something good for his work. One only hopes the row will blow over.

The fact is no one has ever questioned this old man’s love for thpoor. His work for the destitute has not only brought him recognition and laurels (including the coveted Ramon Magsaysay award). It has also won for him the confidence of the people. The faith the public has reposed in him is central to his work. For Edhi’s huge network of welfare organisations depends entirely on voluntary donations worth over Rs two billion.  According to the same calculation, the maulana needs another 210 million to invest and bring returns to meet his day-to-day expenses. But he has other ambitions too. He wants to set up a chain of welfare centres 25 kilometres apart all over the country.

For a semi-literate person with hardly any political or social clout to mobilise massive amounts through voluntary donations, at times by simply standing on the roadside collection box in hand, is so remarkable. More so, because the donations come from a society so notorious as ours for tax evasion. It is difficult to believe that people who go to all extremes to cheat the government can be so generous when it comes to giving donations for a charitable cause.But the army of beggars which subsists on public philanthropy, the langars set up outside mazaars and other congregation spots to feed the poor, and the scores of appeals for assistance (which are presumably answered) from organisations is working for public welfare are testimony to the generosity of the Pakistanis. Continue reading An unemotional look at Edhi →

An adversarial relationship

Archive Edition, History, Human Rights, Information, Media

 By Zubelda Mustafa

84-06-09-1994In one of his periodic meetings with newspaper editors , President Ayub Khan tried to draw a reticent Zahoor Husain Choudhury, a senior and eminent journalist and editor of Sangbad, into the discussion. “Choudhury Sahib are you not concerned about freedom of expression in Pakistan?” the Field Marshal enquired.

“Oh yes sir, I am. But I am more worried about freedom after expression,” the witty editor replied. The repartee describes in a nutshell the adversarial state of the Press-government relationship that has been the traditional pattern in this country. Continue reading An adversarial relationship →

At SIUT the dead help the living

Archive Edition, Health, Organ Trade and Donation, Organ Transplant, SIUT, Social Issues
Shehnaz: A gift of life from the Netherlands
Shehnaz: A gift of life from the Netherlands

By Zubeida Mustafa

The story begins five thousand miles away in the Dutch city of Maastricht. In mid-January a 14-year old girl slips into a coma and dies due to a ruptured cerebral aneurysm. Her grief-stricken parents decide to gift her organs to the dying. Thus they would have the satisfaction of knowing that a part of their child has not died.

That is how the central registry of the Eurotransplant Foundation in Lieden gets an AB+ blood group donor.

It is noon in Karachi. At the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) in the Civil Hospital there is a call for the director, Dr Adibul Hasan Rizvi, from Dr Ganke Kootstra of the University of Maastricht. There is a cadaveric kidney available. Does Karachi have an endstage renal failure patient who needs the organ and has the matching tissue type?

Thus begins the miracle for Shehnaz, a young woman of 24 and a resident of New Karachi. She has been haunted by the spectre of death for the last four months since her kidneys stopped working. She has survived with the help of dialysis — a procedure in which the function of cleansing the impurities in the blood is performed by a machine to which the patient’s artery is hooked. But life has been robbed of all joy. Since October Shehnaz has had to come to the Institute thrice a week for a four-hour dialysis session. Then too, she feels fit for only a day, after which the nausea returns. She also gets breathless. Continue reading At SIUT the dead help the living →

Taranaki challenges

Economy

New general manager looks forward to the Taranaki challenges

S (STOS) has been an established company in Taranaki since the Kapuni field was first commissioned during the late 1950s.

Despite the organization having this stable relationship with the province it does not mean that the “hand on the helm” has remained constant as the policy of the company has been for the post of general manager to be filled as an assignment for a number of Shell International personnel.

Consequently when Renny Snell completed his term in New Zealand earlier this month he was replaced, as general manager, by another man of international experience in the oil and gas industry.

Mahdi Hasan brings with him a wealth of managerial skills from a multitude of facets within the industry. Continue reading Taranaki challenges →

Nine nations vow to end illiteracy by AD 2000

Archive Edition, Children and Youth, Education, Information, Women

From Zubeida Mustafa

NEW DELHI, Dec 16: In a colourful ceremony held amidst tight security measures, the leaders from the nine high population countries pledged to ensure a place for every child in school by the year 2000 or at the earliest possile moment.

The Thursday morning session was devoted to policy statements in which the participats reaffirmed their commitment to the goal of Education for All (EFA). In the afternoon they adopted the declaration and framework for action.

Inaugurating the summit, Indian President Dr Shanker Dayal Sharma described the EFA as the most important endeavour being undertaken in the world which should accelerate the emergence of a higher level of civilisation in this planet and foster the spirit of humanism, peace and friendship between nations. Continue reading Nine nations vow to end illiteracy by AD 2000 →