[4] Born in 1927, Shakeel joined the Indian National Movement in his youth,[5][6] and was imprisoned by the British at the age of 14 years.

After the independence of India, Shakeel joined the Praja Socialist Party, and remained a companion of Jayaprakash Narayan, Ram Manohar Lohia and Acharya Kriplani.

[citation needed] His wife, Begum Akhtar Jehan, was herself an educationist and principal of the Kashmiri Mohalla Girls' School.

After the dissolution of the Praja Socialist Party, Shakeel joined the Indian National Congress and won the 1974 Assembly elections from the densely populated Lucknow West constituency.

[citation needed] Shakeel's works in Urdu poetry and literature have been published by Kitabi Duniya.