I never followed Islam but I was called Islamist' terrorist: Umar Khalid

March 19, 2016

New Delhi, Mar 19: Hours after his release from Tihar jail in a sedition case, JNU student Umar Khalid today said he has no regrets of being jailed and was rather proud of being booked under the said charges.

khalidumar

"We have no regrets of being jailed in this particular case. We are in fact proud of the fact that we have been booked under sedition, a law under which activists like Arundhati Roy and Binayak Sen were booked.

"Our names have been added to the list of those who have been jailed for raising their voices," he told a gathering at the varsity.

In a 35-minute speech, Umar said, "I am not ashamed that I was in jail. Criminals are those who are in power, those in jail are the ones who raise their voice."

"I also don't think that freedom of expression is in danger. It only belongs to those in power. People like (Pravin) Togadia and Yogi Adityanath have all the freedom of expression," he said.

Umar claimed that he was being labelled a terrorist because of Islam, which, he said, he did not practice.

"I never followed Islam but I was called Islamist terrorist. It was not just my trial but entire Muslim community's trial. But I want to ask what if I was practising Muslim? What if I came from Azamgarh and wore a skull cap? That will be enough to give me a terrorist certificate", he said.

Khalid, who was welcomed at the gathering by JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar and his 6-year-old sister Sara, said, "Those who are raising concerns about wastage of taxpayers' money, we want to tell them we are not going to go back to studies now that we are back from jail. By jailing us you have given bigger responsibilities on our shoulders and we will fulfill that by fighting."

Umar, and Anirban Bhattacharya, arrested last month on charges of sedition for their involvement in a controversial event organised to protest hanging of Afzal Guru, were today granted interim bail for six months by a Delhi court on ground of parity with Kanhaiya.

Kanhaiya, who was also arrested on charges of sedition in connection with the February 9 event at the JNU, was granted bail earlier this month.

"I was linked with Jaish-e-Mohammad, I was accused of eloping to Kashmir or Pakistan while I was sitting at the university administration block, I was declared a traitor to the nation by virtue of birth.

"We are still in a better position as we were not killed in an encounter or tortured in custody and our houses were not burnt. Usually that's the fate of those who raise their voices," Khalid said.

"We do condemn 'bharat ki barbadi' (India will be destroyed) slogans but our slogan is 'Sangh ki barbadi tak jung rahegi' (fight till sangh is destroyed). There can't be peace without justice and where there is RSS can't be justice," he said.

Amid shouting of 'aazaadi' slogans, Anirban recalled his experiences in jail and how authorities were more appalled at him being an "anti-national".

"They said Khalid sahab to we understand, but you being a Bhattacharya how can you be anti-national? I had no answers and I am still clueless about what transpired in the last one month," he said.

"I did not feel bad about being in jail but the day Kanhaiya came back to campus I missed being here," he said.

Comments

Naren kotian
 - 
Saturday, 19 Mar 2016

Lo rikaacha ...good joke kano...chaddi galu scared abthe ..haha...worlds most deadliest crimes rapes beheadings are done by muslims...99.999% muslims are terrorists. . take out the statistics .. First of all saabi galige nidde barallo mama Israel and modi hesru kelidre ...haha ...

Zubair
 - 
Saturday, 19 Mar 2016

Mr. Umar If you never followed ISLAM!! then, you are unfit to named as Umar Khalid... and raise voice against discrimination. Let media and politician call you as either Islamic Terrorist or fundamentalist it is not a big thing. Because Allah knows the best what and who are you..but be firm in your religion and fight for freedom IN India..

Rikaz
 - 
Saturday, 19 Mar 2016

cheddies are scared of muslims name....not whether you follow muslim or not...even in the night they cannot get proper sleep just because of muslim names....you dont have to harm them but they scared it is automatic...its from Allah the alimighty....Subhan Allah!

UMMAR
 - 
Saturday, 19 Mar 2016

NO NEED TO FOLLOW ISLAM ... IF U R MUSLIM U R TERROR AS PER THEM...

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News Network
January 14,2020

New Delhi, Jan 14: The Kerala government has challenged the new Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) before the Supreme Court, becoming the first state to do so amid nationwide protests against the religion-based citizenship law. The Supreme Court is already hearing over 60 petitions against the law.

Kerala's Left-led government in its petition calls the CAA a violation of several articles of the constitution including the right to equality and says the law goes against the basic principle of secularism in the constitution.

The Kerala government has also challenged the validity of changes made in 2015 to the Passport law and the Foreigners (Amendment) Order, regularising the stay of non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who had entered India before 2015.

The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), eases the path for non-Muslims in the neighbouring Muslim-majority nations of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh to become Indian citizens. Critics fear that the CAA, along with a proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC), will discriminate against Muslims.

The Kerala petition says the CAA violates Articles 14, 21 and 25 of the constitution.

While Article 14 is about the right to equality, Article 21 says "no person will be deprived of life or personal liberty except according to a procedure established by law". Under Article 25, "all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience."

Several non-BJP governments have refused to carry out the NRC in an attempt to stave off the enforcement of the citizenship law.

Over 60 writ petitions have been filed in Supreme Court so far against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. Various political parties, NGOs and also MPs have challenged the law.

The Supreme Court will hear the petitions on January 22.

During the last hearing, petitioners didn't ask that the law be put on hold as the CAA was not in force. The Act has, however, come into force from January 10 through a home ministry notification.

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News Network
June 12,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 12: Karnataka Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar on Friday said experts have indicated a surge in coronavirus cases in the state after August 15 and the government was taking all precautionary measures in that direction. Speaking to reporters in Ballari, Sudhakar said, "About 97 percent of over 3,000 active cases in the state are asymptomatic.

Experts after studying the developments in other countries and states have said that there will be a surge in infections after August 15."

He said the government was taking all precautionary measures in that direction.

 As of June 11 evening, cumulatively 6,245 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 72 deaths and 2,976 discharges, the health department's bulletin said.

It said, out of 3,195 active cases, 3,185 patients are in isolation at designated hospitals and are stable, while 10 are in ICU.

Meanwhile, in a tweet pointing out that nearly 60 per cent of the COVID cases in the country are from 10 cities, Sudhakar said, despite being the fourth most populous city in the country Bengaluru has been successful in containing its spread.

"Nearly 60% of total COVID-19 cases in India are found in 10 cities. Despite being 4th most populous, Bengaluru has been successful in containing spread of virus.

I urge people to keep up the fight, continue vigil & together with #CoronaWarriors we can defeat the virus," Sudhakar tweeted.

Bengaluru that does not figure in the list of 10 cities shared by the Minister has reported 581 coronavirus cases till last evening, out of which 258 are active.

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August 4,2020

Mangaluru, Aug 4: The Karnataka Beary Sahitya Academy has announced the names of the winners of its annual honorary awards (Gaurava Prashasti and Gaurava Puraskara) for the years 2019 and 2020.

Rahim Uchil, the president of the Academy announced the names at a press conference in the city today. Beary Academy registrar Poornima and member Shamsheer Budoli were also present in the press meet. 

Gaurava Prasasthi-2020 winners are: Basheer Ahmed Kinya (Beary literature), Veena Mangaluru (Beary cinema, drama and art) and Siddique Manjeshwara (Beary organisation and social service) 

Gaurava Puraskara-2020 winners are: Dr Mohammed Ismail (medicine), T A Mohammed Asif (education), Iliyas Mangaluru (social service), Abdul Rasheed aka Rash Beary (Beary organisation) and Safwan Shah Bahrain (young talent). 

Gaurava Prashasti-2019 winners are: Abdul Rehman Kutthethur (Beary literature), Ismail Tannirbhavi (Beary art) and M Ahmed Bava Moidin (Beary organisation and social service).

Gaurava Puraskara-2019 winners are: Abdul Razzak Ananthady (Beary education), T S Hussain (Beary literature), Abdul Majeed Suralpady (General), Asif Karnad (social service) and Ali Kunhi Paare (Beary organisation). 

The Academy’s "Gaurava Prashasti consists of Rs 50,000 cash prize, shawl, garland and citation, while "Gaurava Puraskara" consists of Rs 10,000 cash prize, shawl, garland and citation.

Mr Uchil said that the awards will be conferred in a formal function after discussing the dates with chief minister once the covid-19 situation comes under control. Even though the winners for the year 2018 were announced, they weren’t conferred on the achievers. Hence those awards also will be conferred in the same ceremony, he said.

About the winners:

Basheer Ahmed Kinya: He has been involved with the Beary music sector since the last 21 years in the form of singer, and poet. He has provided lyrics for over 150 Beary audio cassettes and also sang them. His first audio cassette, Maskattoru Kallas' had created a record by getting sold out within four to five days. He has also created several non-stop cassettes and Duf songs. 
 
Veena Mangaluru: She has acted in the first Beary cinema. She has acted in over a thousand plays in different languages. 'Mami Marmolu', Kurfat Katte/Amadakaro Chiri, and Shamimarabal are some of the plays she has acted in. 
 
Siddique Manjeshwar: A social worker and activist. Through social media, he led a blood donation campaign and thereby helped thousands of people.  There are over 10,000 members in his 54 WhatsApp groups who are ready for blood donation. His ‘Blood Donate Mangaluru’ drive has been able to collect over 26,000 units of blood and conducting over 250 blood donation camps so far. He was honoured with a special award of the chief minister of Kerala. 

Dr Muhammed Ismail: Dr Muhammed Ismail completed his medical education in 1989 and has been serving different hospitals since the last 30 years being a highly respected doctor. He also is an honorary medical officer of the Wenlock Hospital Mangaluru. He has served as an office-bearer of Indian Medical Association, Karnataka Medico-legal Society etc.
 
T A Mohammed Asif: He has been providing education to over 360 students from LKG to the eighth standard through Adarsh Group of educational institutions. He is also active in the social sector and has distributed school bags and books to poor students. During the lockdown, he distributed free food items worth about Rs 10 lac.
 
Ilyas Mangaluru: He had fought against the menace of dowry. He has got over 500 girls married through an organization, 'Dowry Free Nikah'. He has also created an app, Free Nikah, which helps boys and girls to find suitable matches. 
 
Rash Beary: Abdul Rasheed aka Rash Beary is known for using social media to help the people. By establishing 'Beary Nikah Helpline' he has helped several poor Beary women to get married. He also provides free counselling services to couples from all religions. With the help of donors, he keeps distributing clothes and food among needy.

Safwan Shah Bahrain: A well-known Beary singer, he has sung several songs in past one decade. He has been organizing various Beary programmes in Bahrain for past eight years. He had undertaken the adventure of jumping from the air from a height of 13,000 feet with the Indian flag in hand. 

Abdul Razack Ananantady: A PU college lecturer by profession, he has conducted over 500 pre-exam training camps and functioned as a resource person in leadership and personality development training. He has been conducting training and lectures for students and their parents on learning nutrition, and life values. His addresses on education and cultural aspects have been aired by Akashvani.

Abdul Rahiman Kuthethur: He was the co-editor or Beary Kannada - English dictionary and editor of the first-ever Beary grammar book released in 2019. He also is a member of the experts' committee on the Beary language textbook. He has translated Panchatantra stories, Sarvajna Vachanas etc into Beary language and published collection of poems.

Ismail Tannirbavi: He is known as a Beary theatre personality, who started acting at the age of 17. He has acted in over 300 plays including Beary, Tulu and Kannada. He has been in the theatre since the last 55 year and his plays have been presented in countries like Muscat and Kuwait. 
 
Ahmed Bawa Moidin: A social worker and member of the Beary Study chair. He also is the life member of Beary Sahitya Parishad and member of Human Ethical Committee of Mangalore University. He was the founder vice president of Mangalore Merchant Associate and member of divisional railway users consultative/committee. He has donated blood 53 times. 

 T S Hussain: Hussain is a veteran Beary writer who has defied blindness. He faced many difficulties and challenges in life and also met with an accident in 2008. Because of this accident, his eyesight had become very weak. He continued with the creation of works with determination in spite of failing eyesight with help from friends. He has authored two works and was appreciated for their content. Thereafter, he authored two more works. In 2018, he wrote another work.
 
Abdul Majeed Suralpady: A social worker and activist, he has served in various organizations. He served as the president of Suralpady government higher primary school for 21 years. He also served as the president of the educational committee of South Karnataka Sunni Centre's Al Ihsan English Medium School and got government recognition for the school. He set up PU college for girls and laid two-way road at Kaikamba besides bus shelter, toilet, drinking water system and building for police check post.
 
Apatbandhava Asif Karnad: He has been serving as an ambulance driver for the last ten years. He readily carries dead bodies and performs funeral. and done so for over a thousand bodies so far. Whenever he comes across mentally unsound people on the road, he gives them a wash and admits them to Ashrams. He has also been maintaining Maimoon Foundation Apatbhandhava Sycho Rehabilitation Centre.
 
Alikunhi Pare: He is the founder president of 'Melthene', a forum of Beary writers and artists. He has also served social, literary, organizational and religious sectors. He has been identified with several organizations including Mangaluru taluk Yuvajana Okkota and Dakshina Kannada and Udupi Muslim Central Committee.

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