Senior lawyer and social activist Asma Jahangir has passed away due to cardiac arrest.
She was among the senior advocates in Pakistan and she co-founded Human Rights of Commission of Pakistan.
According to media reports, she was also suffering from cancer and remained under treatment for years. She was rushed to hospital after falling ill but passed away.
"Unfortunately we have lost her," Hina Jilani, also a prominent rights activist, told AFP.
Jahangir's supporters and former opponents alike took to social media to offer their condolences and expressed shock at the news of her death.
"Asma Jahangir was the bravest human being I ever knew. Without her the world is less," wrote prominent Pakistani lawyer Salman Akram Raja.
"I and many others didn't agree with some of her views. But she was a titan. And one of the brightest and bravest ever produced by this country," wrote journalist Wajahat Khan on Twitter.
Jahangir received France's highest civilian award in 2014 and Sweden's alternative to the Nobel Prize for her decades of rights work.
She remained Supreme Court Bar President from 2010 to 2012. She remained HRCP Chairman from 1987 to 2011.
She was a huge part of lawyers movement in 2007-08. She remained house arrest in 2007 for 90 days including other lawyers' movement leadership.
She was born in Lahore in politically active family in 1952. She got early education from Convent of Jesus and Mary before completing Graduation from Kinnard College, Lahore.
She got her LLB degree from University of Punjab in 1978.
She was a staunch critic of Zia-ul-Haq's policies especially regarding implementing religious laws. She took part in several protests during Zia's regime.
Chief Justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar, former President Asif Ali Zardari, President Mamnoon Hussain paid their tribute to Asma Jahangir and expressed grief.
"Asma Jahangir struggled for human rights and democracy," said Zardari.
Three days ago, she appeared before Supreme Court in determining disqualification of parliamentarians case where she asserted that apex court should not involve itself in political questions.
She braved death threats, beatings and imprisonment to win landmark human rights cases and stand up to dictators.
There is still terrible violence against women, discrimination against minorities and near-slavery for bonded labourers, but Jahangir told AFP during an interview in 2014 that human rights causes have made greater strides in Pakistan than it may appear.
"There was a time that human rights was not even an issue in this country. Then prisoners' rights became an issue," she said.
"Women's rights was thought of as a Western concept. Now people do talk about women's rights -- political parties talk about it, even religious parties talk about it."
Jahangir secured a number of victories during her life, from winning freedom for bonded labourers from their "owners" through pioneering litigation to a landmark court case that allowed women to marry of their own volition.
