Lone was born in Dard Harie in the Kralpora tehsil of the Kupwara district of the princely state of Kashmir and Jammu in British India into a Kashmiri Muslim family.
In 1978, he formed a Kashmiri separatist organization called People's Conference dedicated to "the restoration of 'internal autonomy' in Kashmir.
"[citation needed] Lone and his guards were gunned down by two young assassins before they threw grenades and escaped on 21 May 2002 while commemorating the twelfth anniversary of the death of Kashmiri leader, Mirwaiz Maulvi Farooq.
Eyewitnesses said that earlier in the day a group of youths arrived at the Idgah, shouting pro-Pakistan slogans, and two of them fired on Lone.
The then Prime Minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, said, "Mr. Lone was assassinated because he was working for peace in Jammu and Kashmir.