Zeyan Jeelani Shafiq

Zeyan Shafiq (born Zeyan Jeelani; 21 July 2002) is an Indian entrepreneur, software and app developer from Anantnag, Jammu and Kashmir ,India. He launched KashBook in May 2017 after the Jammu and Kashmir government banned social media services in the Kashmir Valley. KashBook was an Android app that allowed users to access social media without circumventing the ban by connecting to a VPN and also allowed users to communicate in Kashmiri. The Express Tribune described it as a "home-grown version of Facebook".
The app was later shutdown due to disagreements between the founders. Shafiq was labelled as the 'Mark Zuckerberg' of Kashmir.
Shafiq started Stalwart Esports in 2020 to promote India in competitive esports.
Personal life and education
Shafiq was born on 21 July 2002 to a Kashmiri Muslim family in Anantnag, Jammu and Kashmir. His father, Shafiq Ul Hassan, is a software engineer, and his mother, Asiya Shafiq, a civil servant in the Jammu and Kashmir revenue department. He studied at the Army Goodwill School in Rajouri and completed his matriculation exams in January 2017 from the Radiant Public School.
KashBook
In 2013, Shafiq (then 13) and Uzair Jan (then 17) built the first version of the KashBook website. After the April 2017 ban on social media ban was imposed in Kashmir by the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party government, Shafiq and Jan realized that the old website was still in use and decided to relaunch it. They developed a website and mobile app so that people in Kashmir could communicate without having to try to circumvent the ban by connecting to a VPN. By 16 May 2017 KashBook had over 1,500 users, which had increased to over 10,500 users by 24 May 2017. However, by August 2017, the KashBook website and app had ceased working due to disagreements between the founders.
The book India Connected by Ravi Agrawal includes a chapter about Shafiq, the internet shutdown in Kashmir, and his take on it with KashBook.
Stalwart Esports
In January 2020, Shafiq started Stalwart Esports, a pan-India esports organization to promote India’s position and participation in competitive eSports. After the ban in India, he signed players from Pakistani team FreeStyle Esports, who already had qualified and played the PUBG World Championship. He was concerned about reprisals, but none came. It was an unprecedented alliance between Indian and Pakistani gamers.
Shafiq continued the cross-border collaboration with Freestyle owner Abdul Haseeb, together forming Stalwart Freestyle in December 2020.

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