Edhi 'under threat' from TTP
16 June, 2012
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| Pakistani charity worker Abdul Sattar Edhi, head of Pakistani's Edhi foundation sits at his office in Karachi. |
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KARACHI: Revered social worker Abdul Sattar Edhi has been given round-the-clock protection against an alleged Taliban threat, officials said on Friday.
Edhi, 85, runs the country's largest charity, which operates hundreds of ambulances and shelters for women, children and the destitute. For the first time he has round-the-clock police protection in Karachi.
"There is a threat to him by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which wants to kidnap him and use him to get their detained militants released in exchange," a security official told AFP on condition of anonymity. Two armed policemen, who each work a 12-hour shift, have been going everywhere with Edhi since June 5, the official said. Aslam Khan, a senior police official, said, "A letter containing a hit-list has been intercepted, which includes Edhi and two police officials, including me," he said.
Edhi said he was carrying on regardless. "I have accepted the guards, but that won't deter me from doing my job to serve my people," he told AFP. But Edhi's son and deputy, Faisal, told AFP that the Taliban had visited his father's office on June 6 to assure him that he was not a target. "They told my father that they respect him and admire whatever he does, and won't target him ever," Faisal told AFP.
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