Waheed-ur-Rehman Para

Waheed-ur-Rehman Para is the Youth President and Spokesperson of the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (JKPDP), which was lastly the ruling the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir. He became the youngest spokesperson of the party after it won the elections in 2015. Before joining politics, he worked actively as a social and political activist.

Before joining politics, he was a youth activist.He was trained for an investigative journalism program at Boston University. Para did his masters in Peace & Conflict Studies from IUST, Awantipora and was awarded a peace scholarship by the SIT Graduate Institute, Vermont USA.

He was also a member of “Kashmir Committee” revived in 2011 by Ram Jethmalani, former Member of Indian Parliament and Union Minister. As a member of Peoples Democratic Party, he played a crucial role in mobilizing support for the 2014 parliamentary elections.

In 2015, he was appointed “Political Analyst” to Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir and served as a secretary of Jammu & Kashmir sports council. He engaged around 1,20,000 youth in sports activities across J&K in 2017. He designed various programs and strategies for the development of peace through sports. Waheed took part in 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, held in Paris, as a special representative from the state of J&K. He presented a speech on the community-based development that addressed the climate change and the role of youth in overcoming the challenges of climate change.