Lalleshwari (1320–1392), locally known mostly as Lal Ded, was a Kashmiri mystic of the Kashmir Shaivism school of philosophy in the Indian subcontinent. She was the creator of the style of mystic poetry called vatsun or Vakhs, literally "speech" (Voice). Known as Lal Vakhs, her verses are the earliest compositions in the Kashmiri language and are an important part in the history of modern Kashmiri literature. She inspired and interacted with many Sufis of Kashmir.
Surya "Sury" Kant is the President of TCS North American, UK and Europe operations based in New York City. Tata Consultancy Services Limited (TCS) is the largest global information technology consulting and services company headquartered in India.
Syed Mohammed Yusuf Shah, commonly known as Syed Salahudeen, is the head of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, a Kashmiri separatist militant organisation operating in Kashmir, and head of an alliance of anti-India militant groups, the United Jihad Council, that works to annex the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir to Pakistan. Salahuddin vowed to block any peaceful resolution to the Kashmir conflict, threatened to train more Kashmiri suicide bombers, and vowed to turn the Kashmir valley "into a graveyard for Indian forces." He is listed on the NIA Most Wanted list. On 26 June 2017, he was named as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the US Department Of State. After being designated as a Global terrorist, he addressed the Pakistani Media at Muzaffarabad’s Centre Press Club, claiming that "The declaration was a joint move by the US, Israel, and India to express their animosity towards Pakistan."
Hari Parbat is a hill overlooking Srinagar, the largest city and summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It is the site of a fort, built in the Durrani era, and of a Hindu temple, mosques, and gurdwara.
Shereen Bhan is an Indian journalist and news anchor. She is the Managing Editor of CNBC-TV18. Shereen took over as managing editor of CNBC-TV18 from 1 September 2013 after Udayan Mukherjee decided to step aside.
Ghulam Nabi Sheikh is a Kashmiri Indian singer and composer. He is credited with reviving Kashmiri music after Kashmiri Pandits left Kashmir during the political conflict in 1990. He was killed by the Punjab Police in 2003.
On 26 May 2008, the government of India and the state Government of Jammu and Kashmir reached an agreement to transfer 99 acres (0.40 km2) of forest land to the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) in the main Kashmir valley to set up temporary shelters and facilities for Hindu pilgrims. This caused a controversy, with demonstrations from the Kashmir valley against the land transfer and protests from the Jammu region supporting it. The largest demonstration saw more than 500,000 protesters at a single rally, among the largest in Kashmir's history.
Sangeetha Kalanidhi Aruna Sairam is an Indian classical vocalist. She is a recipient of the Padma Shri award from the Government of India and has been elected as Vice Chairman of the Sangeet Natak Akademi by the Government of India. In 2011, Aruna was the first Carnatic musician to perform at the BBC proms in London. She is regarded as the Music Ambassador of India.
Abdul Tejan-Cole is a Sierra Leonean legal practitioner and former Commissioner of Sierra Leone's Anti-Corruption Commission. He was awarded the 2001 Human Rights Watch award.
Amit Goyal is the Director of the multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary RENEW Institute at SUNY-Buffalo in Buffalo, New York. He is also Empire Innovation Professor at SUNY-Buffalo.
The Rotary Foundation is a non-profit corporation that supports the efforts of Rotary International to achieve world understanding and peace through international humanitarian, educational, and cultural exchange programs. It is supported solely by voluntary contributions from Rotarians and friends of the Foundation who share its vision of a better world.
Sajjad Haider Ansari is a media personality from Jammu and Kashmir, India who has been in the field of journalism for more than two decades. He is also publisher and editor-in-chief of the Kashmir Observer, a daily newspaper being published from Srinagar since 1996.
Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi is an Emirati commentator on Arab affairs and also a member of the Sharjah ruling family. Al-Qassemi is known for his use of Twitter and has been described by numerous media outlets as a prominent voice during the events of the Arab Spring. In February 2014 Al-Qassemi joined the Global Commission on Internet Governance and in the summer of 2014 became an MIT Media Lab Director's Fellow. In the Spring 2017 Al-Qassemi was a practitioner in residence at the Hagop Kevorkian Center of Near East Studies at New York University, where he offered a course on Politics of Middle Eastern Art. The Gottlieb Duttweiler Institut's Global Influence list of Arabic thought leaders ranked Al-Qassemi number 19 in 2018. Also in 2018 he was named a World Fellow in the Yale Greenberg World Fellows Program. Al-Qassemi is also the Chairman of Barjeel Geojit Securities, a joint-venture that was formed with Geojit Financial Services of India.
Jalees Ahmed Khan Tareen, also known as J.A.K. Tareen, was born in Mysore, Karnataka, India in 1947. He was the vice-chancellor of B. S. Abdur Rahman University, in Chennai, India from 2013 to 31 March 2015. He was the recipient of the Padma Shri award 2009 for the Literature & Education given by the Government of India. He is one of the current advisory board member of South Asia Foundation (SAF) from India.
Zafar Sobhan is a Bangladeshi editor and columnist.
Sheikh Khalid Jehangir (Jahangir) is an Indian Kashmiri-based journalist, writer, political strategist. He joined in 2014 and became Bharatiya Janta Party and its Jammu & Kashmir Affairs Spokesperson. He is known for his political connections He served as VC of J&K Projects Construction Corporation (JKPCC) a premier government undertaking corporation. With status of Minister of state (MOS). He was fellow at International Strategic Affairs Washington DC
The Hindus of the Kashmir Valley, were forced to flee the Kashmir valley as a result of being targeted by JKLF and Islamist insurgents during late 1989 and early 1990. Of the approximately 300,000 to 600,000 Hindus living in the Kashmir Valley in 1990 only 2,000–3,000 remain there in 2016.
Qasim Faktoo is a Kashmiri Terrorist who wants to free Jammu and Kashmir from India. He was top-ranking commander of Hizbul Mujahideen, a designated terrorist organisation by India, the European Union and the United States.
Many small organisations have formed to struggle for women's rights in Jammu and Kashmir. The 1947 accession of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) to India has led to conflict affecting the region's women. Kashmiri women, members of a patriarchal society, have had to fight inequality and discrimination and have been victims of violence by the Pakistani security forces and militants. There has been an open instance of the now famous schoolgirl who was shot in the head by radical terrorists for wanting to educate herself.
