Waheed Rehman Para

Waheed_Ur_Rehman_Para.jpg

Waheed-ur- Rehman Para is youth president and Spokesperson of the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party, which is ruling the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir. He became the youngest spokesperson of the party after it formed an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party in march 2015 Before joining politics, Mr Para was a social and political activist.

Early life and education

Born in 1988 in a small village in Naira, Pulwama in South Kashmir. Mr Para's grandfather, Abdul Rehman Para, was a Congress politician, a famous social activist and also a known worker of the PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. Before joining politics, Mr Para was a youth activist and a prolific writer. His writings would often appear in local daily newspapers published in Srinagar, Kashmir. He was trained in USA for an investigative journalism program at Bostan University. Mr Para did his masters in Peace and Conflict Studies at Islamic University of Science and Technology in Awantipora and was awarded a peace scholarship by the SIT Graduate Institute, Vermont USA.

Mr Para was also a member of "Kashmir Committee" revived in 2011 by Ram Jethmalani, former Member of Parliament and Union Minister. Kashmir Committee II took shape against the backdrop of a the violent upsurge of 2010 when lakhs of young men and even children came out on the streets in Kashmir to vent their anger against the State government for its callous response to the [...] of 120 innocent young men and children during the “stone pelting” movement which forced closure of the government offices, schools, colleges and business establishments for months on end.

As a worker of Peoples Democratic Party, Mr Para, played a key role in the 2014 Parliament elections that saw PDP winning all the three seats as well as assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir. He is a popular face among Kashmiri youth and has a strong grip over the youth in South Kashmir.

Political analyst

Mr Para was appointed "Political Analyst" to Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, in June 2015. The Project Management Unit (PMU) in the J&K Government Grievance Cell maintains close linkage with the "Political Analyst" for analysis of public grievances and formulation of broader policies. Para also coordinates outcome-oriented disposal of the grievances in coordination with PMU and concerned government and non-government stakeholders.

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