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{{short description|Indian software developer (born 2002)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2025}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2025}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Zeyan Shafiq
| image = Zeyan Shafiq (Malaysia 2019) cropped.jpg
| caption = Shafiq In 2019
| birth_name = Zeyan Jeelani Shafiq
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|2002|7|21}}
| birth_place = [[Anantnag]], [[Jammu and Kashmir (state)|Jammu and Kashmir]]
| death_date =
| death_place =
| other_names =
| alma_mater = Radiant Public School
| occupation = Software and app developer, CEO of Stalwart Esports
| years_active =
| known_for = [[KashBook]], [[Stalwart Esports]]
}}

'''Zeyan Shafiq''' (born '''Zeyan Jeelani;''' 21 July 2002)<ref name="vice">{{Cite web |date=23 December 2020 |title=How the Indian Ban on PUBG Brought Gamers From India and Pakistan Together |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/india-pakistan-pubg-players-come-together-for-esports-competition/ |access-date=12 January 2021 |website=Vice India}}</ref> is an [[Indian people|Indian]] software and app developer from [[Anantnag]], [[Jammu and Kashmir (union territory)|Jammu and Kashmir]].<ref name="deccanchronicle.com">{{Cite web |last=Jameel |first=Yusuf |date=2017-05-21 |title=Social Bee: Valley's 'Internet kid' overcomes social media ban |url=https://www.deccanchronicle.com/technology/in-other-news/210517/social-bee-valleys-internet-kid-overcomes-social-media-ban.html |access-date=2021-01-14 |website=Deccan Chronicle |language=en}}</ref> He founded KashBook in 2017 after the [[Jammu and Kashmir (state)|Jammu and Kashmir]] government banned social media services in the [[Kashmir Valley]]<ref>{{Cite web |date=17 May 2017 |title=KashBook, Kashmiri boy Zeyan Shafiq's Facebook circumvents social media ban in Valley |url=https://www.india.com/viral/kashbook-kashmiri-boy-zeyan-shafiqs-facebook-circumvents-social-media-ban-in-valley-2141613/ |access-date=12 January 2021 |website=India}}</ref> and started [[Stalwart Esports]] in 2020 to promote India in competitive [[esport]]s.<ref name="vice" />

== Personal life and education ==
Shafiq was born on 21 July 2002 to a [[Kashmiri Muslims|Kashmiri Muslim]] family in Anantnag, [[Jammu and Kashmir (state)|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.<ref name="vice" /> He studied at the [[Army Goodwill Schools|Army Goodwill School]] in Rajouri and completed his matriculation exams in January 2017 from the Radiant Public School.<ref name="greaterkashmir.com">{{Cite web |date=2017-05-24 |title=Kashmir software enthusiast develops Kashbook |url=https://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/kashmir/kashmir-software-enthusiast-develops-kashbook/ |access-date=2021-01-14 |website=Greater Kashmir |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=18 May 2017 |title=Kashmiri teen launches Facebook-like app, thwarting social media ban in Valley |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/india/kashmiri-teen-zeyan-shafiq-launches-facebook-like-app-kashbook-after-social-media-ban-in-valley-4661152/ |access-date=12 January 2021 |website=Indian Express}}</ref><ref name="deccanchronicle.com" /> He planned to study computer science engineering.<ref name="indiatoday">{{Cite web |date=16 May 2017 |title=16-year-old develops Kashbook, Kashmir's own Facebook, after government banned social media websites |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/fyi/story/jammu-kashmir-social-media-ban-kashbook-facebook-version-977342-2017-05-16 |access-date=12 January 2021 |website=India Today}}</ref>

== KashBook ==
{{see also|Censorship in Kashmir}}
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|Kashmir Valley]] by the [[Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party|PDP]] government on 26 April 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |date=18 May 2017 |title=Countering social media ban in IHK, 16-year-old develops 'KashBook' |url=https://nation.com.pk/18-May-2017/countering-social-media-ban-in-ihk-16-year-old-develops-kashbook |access-date=12 January 2021 |website=The Nation}}</ref> They developed a website and mobile app so that people in Kashmir could communicate without connecting to a [[VPN]].<ref name="indiatoday" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-05-18 |title=A 16-Year-Old Kashmiri Boy Is Helping Thousands Reconnect in the Face of a State Ban on Social Media |url=https://www.thebetterindia.com/101387/kashbook-kashmir-facebook-zeyan-shafiq/ |access-date=2021-01-13 |website=The Better India |language=en-US}}</ref> KashBook had more than 10,500 users as of May 2017.<ref name="greaterkashmir.com" />

The book ''India Connected'' by [[Ravi Agrawal]] includes a chapter about Shafiq, the internet shutdown in Kashmir, and his take on it with KashBook.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Agrawal |first=Ravi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rLhwDwAAQBAJ&newbks=0&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA147&dq=%22Zeyan+Shafiq%22+-wikipedia&hl=en |title=India Connected: How the Smartphone Is Transforming the World's Largest Democracy |date=2018-10-01 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-085867-4 |pages=147–169 |language=en |chapter=Big Brothers,Internet Shutdowns & Internet.org}}</ref>

== Stalwart Esports ==
In January 2020, Shafiq started Stalwart Esports, a pan-India esports organisation to promote India's position and participation in competitive eSports.<ref>{{Cite web |date=13 November 2020 |title=How Pakistan gamers joined hands for Kashmiri's Indian PUBG team |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/sports/sport-others/how-pakistan-gamers-joined-hands-for-kashmir-india-pubg-team-7049726/ |access-date=12 January 2021 |website=Indian Express}}</ref><ref name="vice" /> After the [[PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds|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.<ref name="vice" /> He was concerned about reprisals, but none came. It was an unprecedented alliance between Indian and Pakistani gamers.<ref>{{Cite web |date=17 December 2020 |title=Games without frontiers: Indians, Pakistanis team up for eSports |url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/games-without-frontiers-indians-pakistanis-team-up-for-esports/an-unheard-alliance/slideshow/79773559.cms |access-date=12 January 2021 |website=Economic Times}}</ref><ref name="vice" />

After the Indian government banned BGMI,<ref>{{Cite news |date=2022-07-29 |title=BGMI: Why India has blocked the popular combat mobile game |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-62344926 |access-date=2024-12-12 |language=en-GB}}</ref> Shafiq extended support to Indian esport organizations assisting them in transitioning [[Battlegrounds Mobile India]] (formerly known as [[PUBG Mobile]]) operations to the rest of the world.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Megha Murty |date=2023-05-17 |title=BGMI: GodLike Esports Founder Says It's Time To Move Abroad for Esports, and More |url=https://in.ign.com/esports/184218/news/bgmi-godlike-esports-founder-says-its-time-to-move-abroad-for-esports-and-more |access-date=2024-12-12 |website=IGN India |language=en-in}}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shafiq, Zeyan}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:2002 births]]
[[Category:People from Jammu and Kashmir]]
[[Category:People from Anantnag]]

Zeyan Shafiq - Revision history

Moshiurrahmanatik: Added Article!