Ambassador Stefano Pontecorvo mourns Bilquis Edhi’s death

Newswire

Rome: Senior Italian diplomat Ambassador Stefano Pontecorvo this week mourned the death of the ‘mother of Pakistan’ Bilquis Edhi.

“Such heartbreaking news to read about the departure of Mme Bilquis, rightly named The Mother of Pakistan for her service to humanity,” he tweeted.

Ambassador Stefano Pontecorvo added: “Lidia and me feel privileged and honoured to have spent time together with her, truly touched by her soul. RIP.”

Philanthropist and humanitarian Bilquis Bano Edhi passed away at a Karachi hospital at the age of 74 on April 15.

A spokesperson for the Edhi Foundation that Bilquis was suffering from “multiple ailments”. “She had heart problems in addition to lung issues,” he said.

Bilquis was a professional nurse and headed the Bilquis Edhi Foundation. She spent more than six decades of her life serving humanity. Her charity saved over thousands of unwanted babies by placing jhoolas (cradles) at Edhi Homes and centres across the country.

Called the Mother of Pakistan, she was awarded various national and foreign awards including the Hilal-i-Imtiaz, the Lenin Peace Prize, Mother Teresa Memorial International Award for Social Justice (2015), and the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service, which she received along with her husband in 1986.

Last year, she was also declared the ‘Person of the Decade’, along with UN rapporteur on human rights Prof Yanghee Lee and the US ethicist Stephen Soldz by an international organisation.