Bengali social reformer and founder of the All-India Seamen's Federation, Aftab Ali's work is recognised to have helped thousands of Asian lascars to migrate, settle and find employment in Britain. He organised rallies and meetings with the likes of the Trades Union Congress. He encouraged lascars and seamen to remain and settle in the United Kingdom. In the 1950s, he founded the Overseas Seamen's Welfare Association which campaigned distressed seamen and their families to be granted British passports. Ali also played an instrumental role in the opening of a passport office in his own home in Sylhet.