MUMBAI (India) – Bilquis Bano, the global humanitarian aid provider Medecins Sans Frontieres and wife of renowned social worker Abdul Sattar Edhi, have been selected for “Mother Teresa Memorial International Award-2015” for social justice in India, according to news reports.
The prestigious award, which has been earlier presented to two Nobel laureates — Dalai Lama and Malala Yousufzai — has been instituted by the Harmony Foundation, Mumbai.
“In view of the noble and humanitarian act of sheltering our dear Geeta — a deaf-and-mute woman who had accidentally crossed into Pakistan, the Harmony Foundation Board has unanimously decided to honour Karachi-based Bilquis Bano of the Edhi Foundation,” the foundation’s chairman and activist Abraham Mathai said.
The Edhi foundation had taken care of the girl, Geeta, for more than a decade and safely sent her to her homeland India. Bano looked after Geeta graciously and allowed her the freedom to practice her own religion until her return to her family last week.
“It is indeed remarkable to note Bano’s emphatic gesture of considering her religious beliefs and cultural sentiments through the years, despite Geeta’s disadvantaged situation to demand the same,” explained Mathai.
Bilquis Edhi and MSF representative Leslie Shanks have accepted the invite to come to India and receive the award instituted in memory of the late Mother Teresa at an event scheduled on November 22.