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Dr. Ruth was the Mother Teresa for Pakistan who transformed herself into the guardian angel which changed the destiny of several leprosy patients in Pakistan. She was the superwoman who left her family, siblings, nationality and the love of her life to migrate from Germany to Pakistan for her dedication of eradicating and eliminating leprosy from Pakistan. Her hard work and selflessness did pay off when our homeland was declared 100% leprosy free by WHO (World Health Organization), for which she was honored by the state with the country’s two highest civilian awards, the Hilal-e-Imtiaz and the Hilal-e-Pakistan.
On the 10th of August 2017, she passed away which left us all orphaned and gave the nation teary eyes. To pay her a tribute for all her services the Government of Pakistan announced a state funeral for her. She will be listed as the third civilian and the fourth person to get a state funeral after Quaid-e-Azam, General Zia-ul-Haq, and Abdul Sattar Edhi.
To regard her with the highest military honor, our armed forces carried the casket which was draped in the national flag containing Dr. Ruth’s body to St Patrick’s Cathedral in Saddar in a gun convoy following which the body was taken for burial in Gora Qabaristan situated at Sharah-e-Faisal. The flag of Vatican City was also hoisted at the cathedral on Saturday morning, while the national flag of Pakistan remained at half-mast. Presiding over the funeral mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral, the pastor paid glowing tribute to Dr. Ruth and her selfless life spent serving the country’s poor.
A 19-gun salute was offered during the funeral proceedings, with contingents of all three Armed Forces of Pakistan present on the occasion. Dr. Pfau’s students and patients arrived in Karachi only to participate in the funeral ceremony along with Corp Commander Karachi, DG Sindh, IG Sindh,Chief of Pakistan Army, Air Force and Navy, Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah, Consul-General of the German Consulate, Dr. Adeeb Rizvi and Karachi Mayor Waseem Akhtar who also attended the funeral rites to bid farewell to the German women who left everything for fighting leprosy.
We need more people like her who make the world believe that with all the bad in Pakistan, there is also good which makes our nation stand out. She being an epitome of selflessness taught us a lot of lessons, and now that she is gone we need to continue her legacy.
