Dr Zakir Naik is reported to have been evading the Indian authorities since 2016 when files were opened against him. Naik's name cropped up when two terrorists involved in an attack on a Bangladesh cafe (which left 29 dead) claimed to have been radicalised by Naik's literature and teachings. He is also wanted for money laundering cases in India and abetment of terrorism in Bangladesh (Times Now [India], 23 July 2018). Locally, Dr Zakir has been accused of denigrating other faiths and being a threat to Malaysia’s multiethnic and multicultural harmony in the past. (The Malay Mail Online, 13 June 2019).

India’s formal extradition request to Malaysia for Dr Zakir received worldwide news coverage. Yet, our Deputy Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Dr Wan Azizah claims “Malaysia has not received any request for extradition” for the tele-evangelist preacher.

Malaysia should not risk jeopardising our long-cherished diplomatic ties with and foreign investments from India. If contents published in the website of the Ministry of External Affairs, India are disputable, would Interpol even have issued the Red Notice for Dr Zakir?  Red notices are requests issued to Interpol’s 194 member states worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest fugitives wanted either for prosecution or to serve a sentence. 

-MCA online-