Tehmina Durrani follows the path ‘Edhi showed us’

Vows to spread ‘Edhism’ in the world
as counter narrative to militancy

LAHORE: Rights activist Tehmina Durrani has announced the launch of large-scale welfare services and urged the people of Pakistan to help her pursue the dream of renowned social worker Abdul Sattar Edhi in providing the basic needs to the poor and needy.

Addressing a press conference Tuesday, she said it was the time to wage a war against poverty, illiteracy and deprivation.  Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif's wife, Tehmina, is also founder of her own social welfare organisation ‘Tehmina Durrani Foundation.’ She urged people to wage ‘humanitarian jihad.’ 

She asked media and writers to spread the message of ‘Edhism’ across the world to create awareness that Islam’s fundamental principles stressed charity, love and care for all those in need.

Tehmina referred to the biography of Abdul Sattar Edhi ‘A Mirror to the Blind’ which she penned over a decade ago and said her foundation would demand the government to include the book in national curriculum, and announced that she would launch a movement to realise Edhi’s dream of making the country a social welfare state.

Tehmina said her foundation would become a ‘global movement’ striving to educate and help the downtrodden people, achieve their rights denied by the state.  She praised Edhi for establishing a network of ambulances, orphanages and other basic needs for the poor. “We must now adopt and spread his ideology,” she said, adding her organisation would work with the Edhi Foundation to achieve its goals and operate on similar low-cost and transparent principles. 

She said her first step would be changing the mindset of the ruling elite to make them realise what they owed to the people. She said her foundation would approach lawmakers and opinion leaders to encourage them spread Edhi’s message of implementing social welfare reform.

She said women empowerment was a major objective of the foundation and it would ensure that they achieved economic independence. She also stressed the importance of educating youth to ensure their future was secure. “Edhi showed us the way, and it is up to us to carry on,” Tehmina remarked.

She urged all major political parties to support the idea of making the country a welfare state, asking masses to reject the rulers if they did not realise their prime duties towards people.

She shunned the queries about Panama Leaks, saying it was a mere tale. She also told a questioner that Shahbaz Sharif had nothing to do with London flats and said she foresaw Pakistan becoming a welfare state in the future.