Mirza Waheed was born in 1974 in Srinagar, where he spent his childhood before moving to Delhi for higher education. He is an alumnus of Kirori Mal College, Delhi University. Waheed later worked as a journalist and editor in Delhi before immigrating to the United Kingdom in 2001 to have a decade-long career as a journalist for the BBC World Service, which gave him a professional link back to the subcontinent. As a result, he has commented on political developments in the region in general and in the Kashmir Valley in particular.