New Delhi: JNU student Umar Khalid, who was one of the main organisers of the February 9 pro-Afzal Guru events and accused of raising anti-national slogans, said that he was "not a terrorist". He also added that the BJP government "needed an excuse to target the campus".
"My name is Umar Khalid and I'm not a terrorist," said Khalid. He had reportedly fled the campus after the matter became serious.
Khalid condemned the media trial that branded him a terrorist. "The attack (on the university) is not because of the program which was organised on Feburary 9, but because the government needs an excuse to attack us," Khalid said as he addressed students on the campus.
Khalid, along with four other accused, Anant Prakash Narayan, Ashutosh Kumar, Rama Naga, Anirban Bhattacharya, returned back to the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus late on Sunday.
"The media, all this while, presented a lot of things about me. The media trial, this propaganda... I know what my family is going through," he said.
The five students are facing charges of sedition for allegedly raising ‘anti-national’ slogans during a protest event held against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.
He also denied reports that he made 800 calls to 'Gulf' or 'Kashmir' a few days before the event was organised.
