The terrorist attack on a Dhaka Café, which left the country and world in shock is said to have some connections with the Islamic preacher Zakir Naik. The India Government is also now taking the issue seriously after it was informed that some of the terrorists who were killed in the July 1st retaliation activity in Dhaka’s café were influenced by the sermons of Zakir Naik. He portrays himself as an Islamic preacher who runs Islamic Research Foundation, which is an NGO.
Government of India and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has decided to take actions against Zakir Naik and asked the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and National Investigation Agency (NIA) to evaluate and examine Naik’s speeches and notice if this Islamic preacher’s speeches, books, and videos have provoked or radicalized the Muslim youth towards religious fundamentalism. Government sources said that the home minister Singh has decided on last Friday to get all the Naik’s speeches examined as a number of arrested sympathizers of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group along with the banned Indian Mujahedeen outfit were the alleged followers of the preacher.
He is a 50-year-old, Mumbai-based television preacher, who used to run a programme Peace TV in Bangladesh which was banned by their Government as it was found to inspire some of the terrorists involved in Dhaka attack.
On ministry’s command, NIA and IB have started investigating the speeches and videos in the light of Supreme Court judgments on the freedom of speech. The agencies are of the opinion that they have to examine all the stuff and then prepare a water-tight case so that case could stand still in the court of law.
Islamic Research Foundation, the NGO, run by Naik’s has also come under scrutiny to see and catch if there are any violations of the Foreign Contributions Registration Act (FCRA). “One clear violation noticed is that though registered as a ‘social and cultural’, it was receiving funds for religious purposes, which is a clear violation of FCRA. A notice under FCRA may be served on IRF once we have studied its activities and accounts for any violations. We have to build a water-tight case that will stand in a court of law,” a ministry officer said.
Zakir Naik is on Saudi Arabia tour right now for “Umrah” and the sources have confirmed that he has delayed his arrival indefinitely in India due to the mounted scrutiny on him. “However, in reality, even after he returns, we may not immediately go for his arrest and will wait to compile enough material to build a water-tight case against him,” said a top officer of the security establishment.
