Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is on a visit to India. He has given a statement for the first time on the extradition of Zakir Naik. He said that India has not yet raised the issue of Zakir Naik. He said that Prime Minister Modi had raised this issue many years ago. However, this is not about a single person, but about the sentiments of extremism, in which there is evidence in a concrete case that shows that a person or organization has done some atrocity or wrong. M Ibrahim was asked about the extradition of Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, who fled from India to Malaysia, at a program on Tuesday. He said that if sufficient evidence is presented, he can consider taking action against Zakir Naik. He said that the Malaysian government will welcome all the evidence submitted in the case of Zakir Naik. Zakir Naik is wanted in many cases
Zakir Naik is wanted in India for giving inflammatory speeches, money laundering and spreading terrorism. In 2016, he fled from India to Saudi Arabia. From there he went to Malaysia. There, the then PM of Malaysia Mahathir Mohammad provided him government protection. Anwar Ibrahim is considered a liberal leader, but he has been seen with Zakir Naik on many occasions. However, Ibrahim said that he does not promote terrorism. He is working together with the Indian government to deal with terrorism. The Malaysian PM also said that the relations between the two countries should not be affected by this one issue. Zakir’s troubles increased after the Dhaka terrorist attack. In July 2016, 5 terrorists carried out an attack in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, in which 29 people were killed. One of the accused arrested in the investigation of this incident had said that he was influenced by Zakir Naik’s speeches. After this, the Special Branch of Mumbai Police investigated the matter. After the initial investigation, Zakir Naik’s NGO was banned under UAPA. Only after this Zakir Naik fled from India. Zakir Naik is absconding for 8 years
In 2017, the NIA court of Mumbai issued a non-bailable warrant against Naik. After this, in 2019, the Special Court of Mumbai also issued non-bailable warrants against him. ED had registered a money laundering case against him. During the investigation of Zakir Naik’s NGO Islamic Research Foundation (IRF), many irregularities were found. It was also found in the investigation that Naik had registered many fake companies. The Indian Home Ministry banned IRF in November 2016. Zakir Naik had been in controversies even before fleeing from India. He had said in July 2008 that Al Qaeda was not responsible for the attack on the World Trade Center in America on September 11, 2001.
Credit: Dainik Bhaskar
