Adeel Pathan
ON his death anniversary, we remember Shakeel Pathan — a fearless advocate whose life remains a testament to courage, conviction and compassion.
Born in 1956 and died on 24 September 1998, Pathan devoted his life to advancing human rights in Pakistan, standing for the dignity of all people regardless of caste, creed or social status.
As a founding member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), he exposed private jails run by feudal lords, where men, women and children were unlawfully detained in inhumane conditions. He was widely respected for his role in liberating bonded labourers and for relentlessly advocating for peasants and workers. Whether in the fields of Sindh or at national and international forums, he spoke with clarity about the plight of the marginalized, ensuring their struggles could not be ignored.
Despite repeated threats, fabricated cases, imprisonment and assassination attempts, Pathan never wavered. His work embodied Nelson Mandela’s conviction that “to deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity.” He believed that injustice in any corner of society demanded a response, echoing Martin Luther King Jr.’s warning that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Pathan’s fact-finding missions and reports highlighted systemic failures that allowed exploitation to flourish — from bonded labour and forced disappearances to widespread violations of labour rights. He was not only an activist but also a meticulous truth-seeker who understood that real change required exposing injustice with evidence.
His legacy is especially relevant today. As Pakistan faces recurring floods that devastate rural communities, it is once again the poorest — especially peasants and farmers — who suffer most. Entire harvests are washed away, homes destroyed and livelihoods ruined. Shakeel Pathan would have been on the frontlines, demanding justice for those who pay the highest price for environmental and governance failures. For him, disasters were never “natural” alone but compounded by inequality and neglect.
To honour his contributions, HRCP launched the Shakeel Pathan Labour Studies Series, ensuring his mission of defending labour rights continues. His life reflected Gandhi’s reminder: “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” Pathan gave himself fully to this service and in doing so, became a beacon for Pakistan’s human rights movement.
Though he was taken from us too soon in 1998, his courage still guides us. His story reminds us that one person’s determination can confront even the most entrenched systems of power. In times of crisis, his legacy urges us never to remain silent. As Elie Wiesel once said, “There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.” Shakeel Pathan’s voice is still echoing, to fight for justice lives on.
—The writer is a communication specialist based in Islamabad.
