Moves the heart
As an acknowledgment of “selfless services” of Dr Pfau on 19 August 2017,
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has announced renaming of the Civil Hospital Karachi to Dr Ruth Pfau Hospital
The coffin, wrapped in Pakistani flag, carried by Pakistani soldiers, nineteen cannon shots fired to pay salute and live coverage on all TV channels of Pakistan of a funeral ceremony attended by nobody less than President Mamoon Hussain, Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman and Vice Admiral Zafar Mehmood along with thousands of mourners from all walks of life, including Muslim religious leaders, gathered at the Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in Karachi.
These may appear to be glimpses of a funeral of a head of state but they were not. This was the befitting farewell given by the people of Islamic Republic of Pakistan to their heroineDr Ruth Pfau, a German Christian missionary who passed away on 10 August after serving people for nearly 57 years.The state funeral of Dr Pfau proved that the people of Pakistan value those who care for them. As I watched on television, as the state-run and private television networks of Pakistan broadcast live footage of her funeral, this sight of an exceptional measure for a foreign Christian in this Muslim country overwhelmed my heart and soul.
Seeing thousands of mourners along with the president of Pakistan gathered at the Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in Karachi to honour her memory and top brass of all three armed forces of Pakistan saluting the casket of Dr Pfau as it proceeded through the Christian grave yard, I thanked God for making Pakistani people thankful to those who cared about them, irrespective of their religion and nationality
Every Pakistani paid tribute to the person who was not born on this soil and practiced a religion different from the majority of the population. Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi also paid rich tribute to Dr Pfau stating, “Although she was born in Germany, her heart has always been in Pakistan”. The spokesman of the ministry of foreign affairs, Nafees Zakaria, emphasised, “The entire Pakistani nation is paying tribute to the extraordinary work of Dr Pfau, and we will always remember her with fondness. We lost a national heroin.”
The respect and love of people of Pakistan for Sister Pfao was very well deserved. She had devoted her life to fighting leprosy in Pakistan for nearly six decades. She arrived in Karachi in 1960 and complications with her visa (to India) forced her to stay in Pakistan. After visiting lepers, she decided to stay and for almost 50 years she took care, as a doctor, of the most sick and poor of the city.
In collaboration with the government of Pakistan Ruth Pfau had helped open leprosy centres in nearly 150 cities, trained physicians, assisted thousands of victims, and helped develop a national program in order to control the epidemic, which had earned her high distinctions in Pakistan.
I feel happy that it’s not after her death that she earned recognition. She was decorated with highest honours and awards of Pakistan in her life time. The awards and medals earned by sister Pfao include Sitara-e- Quaid i Azam, Hilal-e-Imtiaz, Hilal-i-Pakistan, Ramon Magsaysay Award, Jinnah Award, Doctor of Science (DSc) by Aga Khan University, Karachi, Nishan-i-Quaid-i-Azam for public service, renaming of Civil Hospital, Karachi to Dr Ruth KM Pfau Hospital. For her dedicated work on leprosy Dr Pfao was awarded Hilal-i-Pakistan on 23 March 1989. The award was presented by the then-President of Pakistan Ghulam Ishaq Khan at the President House.
On 30th January 2000, while speaking at a function in Islamabad to mark the 47th World Leprosy Day, the then president of Pakistan Mr Rafiq Tarar praised Dr Pfau for building up the National Leprosy Control Program in Pakistan. Dr Pfau helped not only those afflicted with leprosy, but also patients of tuberculosis. In 2006, radio station the City FM89 honoured Dr Pfau as the ‘Woman of the Year’.
The list of awards conferred on Dr Pfau is long. On 14 August 2010, on the occasion of Pakistan’s Independence Day, the then president of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari conferred Nishan-i-Quaid-i-Azam on Dr Pfau in recognition of her public service. After her work towards helping people displaced by the 2010 floods, she was hailed as Pakistan’s “Mother Teresa”. Dr Pfau also received the highest award of the German state of Baden-Württemberg the Staufer Medal, in 2015.
As an acknowledgment of “selfless services” of Dr Pfau on 19 August 2017, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has announced renaming of the Civil Hospital Karachi to Dr Ruth Pfau Hospital.
Her wish was that the different “religions work together and the biggest religion was humanity” asserted Dr Claudia Vilani, an expatriate and colleague of Ruth Pfau. No doubt the way her funeral has been conducted manifests that the bonding of humanity is above religion, nationality, culture, cast and creed and people of Pakistan do understand this.