Zulfiqar Shah

Zulfiqar Shah (Sindhi ذوالفقار شاہ Hindi जुल्फिकार शाह) is a civil rights activist, journalist and writer of Sindhi origin. He was forced by the Pakistan Army to unlawfully leave the country and close down The Institute for Social Movements, Pakistan in May 2012. He resettled in Nepal, where the UNHCR approved him for refugee status. In Kathmandu, he began freelancing with newspapers and websites on the issues of Pakistan, particularly concerning Sindh and the restive province of Balochistan. He was insurrected in his house in Kathmandu and was given heavy metal poison by the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI with local facilitation; however he was rescued by local doctors. He was forced to leave Nepal, thus he left for Pakistan in December 2013. In Pakistan, he again was persecuted and threatened to be killed. He went India for medical treatment on 11 February 2013, where he was not only denied appropriate health treatment at the behest of the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi, but was also harassed by high commission officials. He, along his wife Fatima Shah, gave a protest sit-in for 285 days near the Parliament of the Republic of India in defiance of the threats against his life committed by the Pakistan High Commission and its facilitation by the Indian authorities. On his website, Shah has claimed that he and his wife Ghulam Fatima Shah were inserted a gadget / chip in their body by USA and India on the demand of Pakistan. He has also claimed that through that chip he has been tortured and attempts of murders were carried by Pakistani officials. Shah was born in a rural town Radhan of district Dadu, Sindh province in Pakistan. Formally educated in Philosophy as well as Development Studies, he was executive director at The Institute for Social Movements, Pakistan and editor, The Social Movements journal during 2010 – 2012.