Zeyan Shafiq

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Zeyan Shafiq
Zeyan Shafiq (Malaysia 2019) cropped.jpg
Shafiq In 2019
Born
Zeyan Jeelani Shafiq

(2002-07-21) July 21, 2002 (age 22)
Nationality Indian
Alma materRadiant Public School
Occupation(s)Software and app developer, CEO of Stalwart Esports
Known for KashBook, Stalwart Esports

Zeyan Shafiq (born Zeyan Jeelani; 21 July 2002) [1] is an Indian software and app developer from Anantnag, Jammu and Kashmir. [2] He founded KashBook in 2017 after the Jammu and Kashmir government banned social media services in the Kashmir Valley [3] and started Stalwart Esports in 2020 to promote India in competitive esports. [1]

Contents

Personal life and education

Shafiq was born on 21 July 2002 [4] to a Kashmiri Muslim family in Anantnag, Jammu and Kashmir. His father, Shafiq Ul Hassan, is a pharmaceutical distributor, and his mother, Asiya Shafiq, a civil servant in the Jammu and Kashmir revenue department. [1] He studied at the Army Goodwill School in Rajouri and completed his matriculation exams in January 2017 from the Radiant Public School. [5] [6] [2] He planned to study computer science engineering. [7]

KashBook

Along with his 19-year-old friend Uzair Jan, Shafiq developed KashBook in 2013, but decided to relaunch the website after a social media ban was imposed in Kashmir Valley by the PDP government on 26 April 2017. [8] They developed a website and mobile app so that people in Kashmir could communicate without connecting to a VPN. [7] [9] KashBook had more than 10,500 users as of May 2017. [5]

The book India Connected by Ravi Agrawal includes a chapter about Shafiq, the internet shutdown in Kashmir, and his take on it with KashBook. [10]

Stalwart Esports

In January 2020, Shafiq started Stalwart Esports, a pan-India esports organisation to promote India's position and participation in competitive eSports. [11] [1] After the PUBG ban in India, he decided to set up international operations for his esport organisation and introduced players from Pakistani team FreeStyle Esports, who already had qualified and played the PUBG World Championship. [1] He was concerned about reprisals, but none came. It was an unprecedented alliance between Indian and Pakistani gamers. [12] [1]

After the Indian government banned BGMI, [13] Shafiq extended support to Indian esport organizations assisting them in transitioningBattlegrounds Mobile India (formerly known as PUBG Mobile) operations to the rest of the world. [14]


Related Research Articles

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Kashmir is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. The term has since come to encompass a larger area that includes the India-administered territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, the Pakistan-administered territories of Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, and the Chinese-administered territories of Aksai Chin and the Trans-Karakoram Tract.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jammu and Kashmir (state)</span> 1952–2019 state administered by India

Jammu and Kashmir was a region formerly administered by India as a state from 1952 to 2019, constituting the southern and southeastern portion of the larger Kashmir region, which has been the subject of a dispute between India, Pakistan and China since the mid-20th century. The underlying region of this state were parts of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, whose western districts, now known as Azad Kashmir, and northern territories, now known as Gilgit-Baltistan, are administered by Pakistan. The Aksai Chin region in the east, bordering Tibet, has been under Chinese control since 1962.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anantnag district</span> District of Jammu and Kashmir, India

Anantnag district is an administrative district of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region. It is one of ten districts which make up the Kashmir Valley. The district headquarters is Anantnag city. As of 2011, it was the third most populous district of Jammu and Kashmir, after Jammu and Srinagar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir</span> Ongoing separatist militancy in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir

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Anantnag, also called Islamabad, is the administrative headquarters of Anantnag district of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region. It is located at a distance of 53 kilometres from the union territory's capital Srinagar. It is the third largest city in Jammu and Kashmir after Srinagar and Jammu with an urban agglomerate population of 159,838 and a municipal limit population of 109,433.

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References

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  2. 1 2 Jameel, Yusuf (2017-05-21). "Social Bee: Valley's 'Internet kid' overcomes social media ban". Deccan Chronicle. Retrieved 2021-01-14.
  3. "KashBook, Kashmiri boy Zeyan Shafiq's Facebook circumvents social media ban in Valley". India. 17 May 2017. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  4. "About Zeyan Shafiq". z3yan.com. Personal website. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
  5. 1 2 "Kashmir software enthusiast develops Kashbook". Greater Kashmir. 2017-05-24. Retrieved 2021-01-14.
  6. "Kashmiri teen launches Facebook-like app, thwarting social media ban in Valley". Indian Express. 18 May 2017. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  7. 1 2 "16-year-old develops Kashbook, Kashmir's own Facebook, after government banned social media websites". India Today. 16 May 2017. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  8. "Countering social media ban in IHK, 16-year-old develops 'KashBook'". The Nation. 18 May 2017. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  9. "A 16-Year-Old Kashmiri Boy Is Helping Thousands Reconnect in the Face of a State Ban on Social Media". The Better India. 2017-05-18. Retrieved 2021-01-13.
  10. Agrawal, Ravi (2018-10-01). "Big Brothers,Internet Shutdowns & Internet.org". India Connected: How the Smartphone Is Transforming the World's Largest Democracy. Oxford University Press. pp. 147–169. ISBN   978-0-19-085867-4.
  11. "How Pakistan gamers joined hands for Kashmiri's Indian PUBG team". Indian Express. 13 November 2020. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  12. "Games without frontiers: Indians, Pakistanis team up for eSports". Economic Times. 17 December 2020. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  13. "BGMI: Why India has blocked the popular combat mobile game". 2022-07-29. Retrieved 2024-12-12.
  14. Megha Murty (2023-05-17). "BGMI: GodLike Esports Founder Says It's Time To Move Abroad for Esports, and More". IGN India. Retrieved 2024-12-12.