Humanitarian from Pakistan who missed the Nobel

Illuminating: A Pakistani woman holding an oil lamp to bid farewell to a national hero Abdul Sattar Edhi, who founded the country’s largest welfare organisation. —AFP

LOOKING through the list of Asia’s greats who passed on in the year past, it is impossible to escape a sense of awe at their accomplishments even as you are struck by the realisation that ultimately, everyone is mortal.

One standout personality who did not waste a moment of his life, and will perhaps be immortal among his people, was Pakistan’s Abdul Sattar Edhi.