Fishing community leader Muhammad Ali Shah dies

Muhammad Ali Shah, the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) chairperson and noted fishermen rights activist, passed away on Wednesday due to complications of Covid-19. He was 66. Shah had been admitted to a private hospital in Karachi for 24 days, said his family.

The late rights activist was born in Karachi in 1956. He was considered a champion of the rights of the fishing community as he raised the community’s issues on various national and international forums.

He formed the PFF in 1998 and since then had been serving as its chairperson. Because of his lifelong struggle, he was also made the chairman of the Asia region of the World Forum of Fisher People (WFFP), a global forum for the small-scale fishermen, said Saeed Baloch, the PFF secretary general and a close aide to Shah.

As the news of his death spread, messages poured in on social media as people from different sections of society expressed their grief on his passing. Baloch said that Shah always called for justice when it came to the fishermen imprisoned in Pakistani and Indian jails, construction of dams on the Indus River, abolition of the contracting system on lakes, and construction of illegal jetties.

Recently, he led a campaign against the federal government’s announcement of constructing cities on the twin islands of Bundal and Dingi (also known as Buddu). He also played an active role for ensuring basic human rights from the platform of the Awami Tehreek.

Baloch said that Shah also ran campaigns to create awareness among the people against the challenges of climate change and pollution.

He was buried in his family graveyard in Ibrahim Hyderi. He is survived by four sons and two daughters. Earlier in 2015, Shah survived in a road accident near Sujawal but his wife Syed Tahira Shah, who was also an office bearer of the PFF, died in the incident.