Tahira Ali Shah, long time social activist and rights campaigner for Pakistan's fisherfolk community, passed away this month in a car accident in Sindh.

I remember when I first met her, at my first official meeting after joining the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) in January 2010, at the PFF’s Secretariat, Ibrahim Hydri – the largest village of fishing community in Pakistan.

I noticed a simple yet graceful lady in her mid-40s, taking notes of the discussion, and humbly raising her hand when she wanted clarification on some points.

She seemed to be very serious about the issues of fisherwomen; their education and health; their role at the unit (village), district and central governing body of the PFF. One of the senior colleagues told me that she was elected Senior Vice Chairperson of the PFF.

That was the first occasion where I observed the leader in her.

Born in a middle class Syed family, it was hard for Tahira to even get an education. But even harder for her was to get married – against social norms and her family's wishes – to Muhammad Ali Shah, who belonged to a comparatively lower class of the fishing community.

Ultimately, Tahira took the bold, rebellious step to get married to him in court. She was confident that she knew what to do with her life.

Together, the couple started working for the rights of the fishing community at a very local level, under the platform of their first, small organisation, ‘Anjum-e Samaji Behbood’.

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Later, Tahira realised that the issues of women were not being addressed appropriately and neither did the women have any effective say in the decision-making of the organisation.

That's when she founded a separate organisation only for women, named ‘Saheriyen Sath’ (group of womenfolk).

She visited women door-to-door, organised and mobilised them, made them understand the roots of their problems and showed them a way to resolve their problems.

In 1998, the couple, along with other companions, founded a countrywide organisation of the fisherfolk community and named it the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF).

Not only did she speak up, she made other women speak up too against the discrimination based on gender, caste and religion.

This one time, the PFF had organised a caravan journey under their