“I have asked the Mumbai Police Commissioner to conduct a probe (into Naik’s speeches) and submit a report”, Chief Minister Maharashtra said on Thursday.
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Government had said “appropriate action” will be taken against him over his speeches that were reported to have inspired some of the militants who attacked Holey Artisan Bakery Cafe in Dhaka.
“We have taken cognizance of Zakir Naik’s speeches and necessary instructions have been issued in this regard, ” home minister Rajnath Singh said.
The controversial Islamic preacher, who is now in Saudi Arabia for pilgrimage, has, however said he was against terrorism and the Islamic State, which had claimed the responsibility of the cafe siege in Dhaka.
Officials said according to an intelligence report the content of the “Peace TV”, in which Naik regularly appears and gives sermons, is “not conducive” to the security environment in the country and poses “security hazard”. “If you listen to my talks, you will never ever find in any of them that I have condoned terrorism or killing of an innocent human being”, he added. Is there a case against Zakir Naik as yet? He said that if prominent personalities like Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravishankar shared stage with Naik, “they were declared to be nationalist” and if he does it is declared “anti-national”.
One of the slain attackers of the terrorist attack in Dhaka’s high-security Gulshan area on July 1, the 22-year-old Rohan Imtiaz quoted Naik in a Facebook post in January this year where he urged “all Muslims to be terrorists”. An online petition has been filed with the Union home ministry listing all the allegations against the IRF as well as Mr Naik.
The influential televangelist came under fire recently after it emerged that two of the terrorists responsible for the recent attack on a Dhaka café that killed 28 persons were his followers. Neither do I call him a saint or a terrorist.
Young militant Rohan Imtiaz, son of an Awami League leader, posted a message on Facebook past year quoting Peace TV’s preacher Naik “urging all Muslims to be terrorists”. No one is saying the context in which he said that.
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While admitting to “inspiring hundreds of thousands, millions”, of people to become closer to Islam, he said not all of his “fans” followed everything he said.
