HRCP member, rights activist Zaman Khan passes away

LAHORE: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) mourned the loss of Muhammad Zaman Khan, a senior member of the organisation’s present governing council, who passed away in Faisalabad.

He was a founding member of HRCP and was elected to its first council. He worked at HRCP for almost two decades, heading its Complaints Cell and helping survivors of human rights violations access legal and protective services.

A staunch human rights defender since his days as a student leader, Khan was also a trade unionist, political worker and intellectual. His commitment to labour rights led to a long association with the Mazdoor Kissan Party, during which he chronicled the labour movement and many of its leaders with characteristic flair. His political activism led to fines as well as imprisonment during Pakistan’s martial law regime, although this did not deter him from his commitment to the ideal of a progressive Pakistan, free of class prejudice.

As a founding member of the Pakistan-India People’s Forum for Peace and Democracy and South Asians for Human Rights, Zaman Khan argued consistently for better relations between India and Pakistan. He was also a prolific writer and journalist, having served as bureau chief at The Muslim and Frontier Post.

He wrote on subjects as varied as the abolition of the death penalty to Punjabi folklore and literature. Zaman will be missed by his colleagues and friends at HRCP and in progressive circles across South Asia.