Social activist Taj Lala passes away

HARIPUR: Renowned social activist Muhammad Taj aka Taj Lala, one of the close aides of late Omar Asghar Khan, passed away here on Thursday. He was 79.

Family sources said that Taj Lala had been hospitalised in the Ayub Medical Complex Abbottabad for the last over two weeks for the treatment of his lung infection but could not survive and passed away on Thursday morning. He was laid to rest in his ancestral graveyards of Jama village. Social activists, poets, journalists and area people attended his funeral.

Lala was one of the founding members of Sungi Foundation, the civil society organisation that the late Omar Asghar Khan founded in early 90s. Taj Lala was one of the close aides of the late Khan and took part in a number of movements orchestrated by Sungi against mega dams, deforestation, environmental degradation caused by fertilizer factories in Haripur.

Lala served Sungi till the death of Omar Asghar Khan and was known for his best mobilization skills required for implementation of projects. Lala was a Hindko language poet and also authored an Urud book titled “zindagi ka anokha safar”, (marvelous journey of life) an autobiography. The 370-page biography of Taj Lala was divided into three parts.