White house praises Edhi, calls him a great humanitarian

In a tribute to legendary philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi, the White House has described him as one of the world's great humanitarians and said his life is a sharp contrast to those who use fear and violence to create divisions.

Spokesman for the White House National Security Council Ned Price said, "Mr Edhi led a life dedicated to serving others, and his determination to provide equal treatment for all regardless of nationality, ethnicity, religion or class stands as a sharp rebuke to those who would use fear and violence to create divisions."

Edhi passed away on Friday night in Karachi, after a prolonged battle with renal failure.

He was accorded a state funeral with hundreds of thousands of people, including President Mamnoon Hussain and Army Chief General Raheel Sharif, attending the funeral prayer.

The White House also acknowledged Edhi's contribution by establishing the medical clinic in Karachi, almost 60 years ago, which later grew into a vast network of social services for Pakistan's most vulnerable, encompassing nursing homes, orphanages, soup kitchens, maternity wards, women's shelters, rehabilitation centres, and the largest voluntary ambulance fleet in the world, reports the Dawn.

United States's leading newspapers also underlined Edhi's decades of services to the destitute through one of the world's largest networks of charity, The Edhi Foundation.