Not a single probing agency says that I promote terrorism. “I don’t even know him”, News 18 quotes him as saying.
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He conducted a lecture series in Malaysia in April, triggering uproar among local religious groups who urged Malaysia not to associate itself with the preacher seen as supporting terrorism.
Asserting that the Centre has taken cognizance of Islamic preacher Zakir Naik’s controversial comments regarding terrorism, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday said India, which is a truly democratic country, does not allow anyone to promote terrorism in any form.
Naik’s speeches are believed to have inspired some of the Bangladeshi militants, who killed 22 people, mostly foreigners, at an upscale restaurant in Dhaka last Friday.
Zakir Naik is also the founder of Peace Television Channel, Peace TV Bangla and Peace TV Urdu and Dawah. The Bangladesh government has alleged that Dr Naik’s speeches inspired two of the attackers, and that the preacher had been named by them in recent posts on social media. “But as a minister, I will not comment what action will be taken”.
“I am being criticised for sharing stage with Zakir Naik but what about Rajnath Singh ji meeting bomb blast accused Pragya Thakur?”
Naik’s Islamic Research foundation is banned in Canada and the United Kingdom on the ground of fanning hatred.
Naik’s speeches have sometimes been held to be bigoted, often a mix of proper Quranic discourse and harsh anti-American rhetoric.
Speaking to The Indian Express on July 5, Naik had said, “I have said that the Quran explicitly says in Chapter 5 that when a person kills another human being, of any religion, it is as though he has killed the whole of humanity”.
Dr Naik told the New York Times, after winning the Saudi government’s state recognition for “service to Islam” in 2015.
“I&B ministry issues licence to some channels, only those channels are allowed to be broadcast by MSOs and cable operators”.
The Daily Star’s reporting was a mere presentation of facts and we regret any misunderstanding between Dr Zakir Naik and this newspaper.
A medical doctor, Dr Zakir Naik is an Islamic preacher of worldwide repute.
“We are not going into whether Zakir Naik knows Quran or not”.
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Monash University has also said that it has yet to receive any confirmation if the former students were victims or assailants.
