Personal background: Maulawi Shazada Shahid, son of Haya Khan, was born in 1962 in Dewgul Dara village, Sawkai district, Kunar province. He is married and has eleven children. He is a religious and influential person in Kunar. Shaid is interested in reading Islamic and religious books. His first language is Pashto and he speaks Dari, Arabic and Urdu as well.

Education: Shahid began his primary Islamic religious studies in 1975 in Peshawar, Pakistan and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in Islamic Studies from the Jamiya Alarbia Hadeqa Alolom, Pakistan, in 1986.

Civil society/NGO connections: Shahid has been a member of religious and national institutions including the Afghanistan Scholars’ Council, the Kunar Scholar’s Council, the Regional Peace Jirga and the High Peace Council.

Previous occupation: Shahid was a teacher for one year in 1987 at the Jamiya Arabia Sediqa Ulom in Peshawar, Pakistan. He established an Islamic studies center in Sokai district of Kunar province in 1988 and both directed and taught there from 1988-2002. From 2003-2005, he served as the head of the Kunar Provincial Courts and in 2005, head of the Kabul Provincial Courts for a few months, before being elected to parliament.

2005 Parliament: Shahid was elected to parliament with 10,045 votes. During this term, he traveled to Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, France, Sweden, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for seminars, workshops and conferences. He was a member of the commission for Narcotics, Toxic Substances and Ethics.

Other information: Shahid participated in the Emergency Loya Jirga in 2002 and the Constitutional Loya Jirga in 2003. He also participated in the Peace Jirga in 2010 and has served on the High Peace Council. He has been affiliated with the “Reformist” group in parliament.50