Kashbook: Kashmiri teen's Facebook-lookalike beats social media ban

Unlike Facebook, this site works without a VPN, so people can easily access it all times

Against the backdrop of a social media ban imposed in Jammu & Kashmir by the state’s Mehbooba Mufti’s government, a Kashmiri teenager has launched his own Facebook-like social network, Kashbook.

Inspired by Mark Zuckerberg’s global social media giant Facebook, Zeyan Shafiq’s Kashbook aims to connect people in the Valley at a time when there is a clampdown on internet services.

From Kashmir’s Anantnag district, Shafiq had started work on the website in 2013 in collaborated with his 19-year-old friend Uzair Jan.

Catch News quoted Shafiq as saying in an interview that the website didn’t take off initially as it was