ARCHIVED SPECIALIST PROFILE

Wajahat Habibullah

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Senior Fellow
Jennings Randolph Fellowship Program

In Residence: October 2003 - July 2004

Project Focus

Kashmir: The Problem and Its Resolution

Areas of Specialization

South Asia • Kashmir • Territorial and Low-Intensity Conflict • Terrorism and Political Extremism • Civil-Military Relations • Human Rights • Economics and Conflict

Foreign Languages: Hindi, Urdu, Kashmiri

Contact: Office of Congressional and Public Affairs

Background

Wajahat Habibullah is secretary to the government of India in the Department of Consumer Affairs. Prior to serving in this position, he served as director of the government of India's National Academy of Administration, the main training center for personnel in the All-India Civil Services (2000–03). Habibullah was stationed at the Embassy of India in Washington from 1994 to 1999, when he served as minister of community affairs and minister of education (1998–99). He was secretary of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (1991–93), joint secretary of the department of industrial development for the government of India's Ministry of Industry, and director and joint secretary in the Prime Minister's Office, 1982–87, when he consulted closely with Rajiv Gandhi during the signing of the Rajiv-Farooq Accord. His involvement in Kashmir affairs has also included a term as vice chair and chief executive of the Jammu and Kashmir Lakes and Waterways Development Authority (Srinagar, 1999–2000); terms as divisional commissioner heading the administration of the eight districts of Kashmir Valley and Ladakh (in 1990–91 and 1993); and fifteen years of service in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, where he organized the state assembly elections in 1977. As commissioner in Kashmir during the early 1990s, he negotiated a peaceful settlement to the crisis at Hazratbal (1993). He also conducted several major inquiries into human rights violations by Indian security forces. He received an award for distinguished service from the governor of Jammu and Kashmir (1996) and the Rajiv Gandhi award for excellence in secularism (1994). Habibullah earned an M.A. in History from the University of Delhi.

NOTE: This is an archived profile of a former U.S. Institute of Peace specialist and is current as of July 2004. The Office of Congressional and Public Affairs maintains an extensive list of foreign policy experts outside the Institute—including many former fellows and staff members. For more information on how to contact this individual, please contact the Office of Congressional and Public Affairs by sending an e-mail to usiprequests@usip.org.