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Delhi

Umar Khalid stirs up hornet’s nest, calls Burhan Wani a revolutionary

Umar Khalid, a Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student, who was jailed in connection with a controversial event held on the campus on February 9, has landed in himself another controversy by praising slain Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani. Khalid has called Wani, who was gunned down in Kashmir on Friday night, a revolutionary.

Khalid posted a status on his Facebook page on Sunday, wherein he compared Wani with Marxist guerilla leader Che Guevara of Argentina. He also hailed Wani as the hero of the suppressed and subjugated masses of the state. 

“I don’t care if I fall as long as someone else picks up my gun and keeps on shooting. These were the words of Che Guevara, but could have just been Burhan Wani’s too”, read Khalid’s post.

Praising Wani further for his bravery, Khalid said, “Burhan wasn’t scared of death, he was scared of a life lived in subjugation. He detested it. He lived a free man, died a free man. Doomed is the occupation! Indian state, how will you defeat a people who have defeated their own fears?”

Khalid did not stop here, he even expressed his support for a “free Kashmir”. His post further read: “Rest in Power, Burhan! In complete solidarity with the people of Kashmir! #Free Kashmir.”

Soon his post became viral on social networking site Facebook and attracted backlash from various sections. Khalid’s statement raised several eyebrows and netizens attacked him for hailing a militant, forcing him to delete the post.

Khalid too responded to the trolls and wrote another post on his Facebook page, which read: “Troller army, I accept defeat. Of course, how on earth can I handle hundreds of you trolling me in such a coordinated way. Yes, I was wrong, I should have joined you in rejoicing his death. Traitor, terrorist, militant…I should have also joined the chorus. Pardon me, I seek your forgiveness. From tomorrow, I will join in to satisfy our nationalist machismo self. I will celebrate killings, rapes, torture, disappearances, AFSPA and everything else. Why just Burhan Wani, I will also justify Sameer Rah’s killing – the 12-year-old boy beaten to death in 2010…But, just one small question my (about to be) fellow nationalists, would that change the ground reality in Kashmir?”

Khalid was in news in connection with the February 9 event, where “anti-national” slogans were allegedly raised on JNU campus. The University had on April 25, 2016, rusticated Khalid and three more students. Khalid was rusticated for one semester and was also a fine of Rs 20,000 was levied on him.

But Khalid is not alone who has condemned Wani’s encounter and praised him. The All-India Students Association’s (AISA) national  president Sucheta De also labelled it as a “planed” murder in her Facebook post.

Wani had become the face of the banned Hizbul Mujahideen in the valley, after videos featuring him were widely circulated in the region. He reportedly joined the militia in 2010 at the age of 15 years.
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