Zakir Naik Case: Malaysia To Extend Full Co-Operation On India's Extradition Request, Says Envoy

Malaysia is ready to be fully co-operative with India's extradition request of Zakir Abdul Karim Naik through the legal and judicial process, according to Dato' Muzafar Shah Mustafa, the Malaysian high commissioner to India.

"Of course, as part of our obligations under the extradition agreement, we will extend full cooperation. However, as I mentioned earlier, this must be done through the legal and judicial process," Mustafa told IANS reporters on Tuesday.

The Islamic preacher, who identified himself as a non-resident Indian, fled the country and has been living in Malaysia after Bangladeshi investigators established his connection to the Dhaka terror attack of July 2016. India also cancelled his passport following the attack.

According to the investigators, one of the instigators of the bomb blast was inspired from one of Naik's speeches, which he saw via his YouTube channel. Apart from ties with the bomb blast, Naik was also accused of funding terror activities and laundering large sums of money.

Before he found shelter in Malaysia, Naik was denied visas in countries like Canada and Britain. He received permanent residency under the Mahathir Mohamed-led government.

The preacher tasted fame on account of his activities of 'dawah' — proselytising for Islam — through his Mumbai-based Islamic Research Foundation. He later launched a channel for Islamic propagation called Peace TV, based in Dubai. Later, he also launched Urdu and Bangla versions of Peace TV, which has been banned in many countries over allegations of hate campaigns. Sri Lanka also banned his Peace TV shortly after the blast.

The Islamic fundamentalist has over 1 crore followers on his Facebook channel and is unwelcome in many countries due to his views and alleged support of Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden.

Malaysia so far had been hesitant about accepting India's request to expel Naik. Last year, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, while speaking at an interactive session at the Indian Council of World Affairs, said that his government may consider India's request to extradite the controversial Islamic preacher if it provides evidence against him.

The reason behind Malaysia's long-running reluctance had to do with the preacher's claim that the Indian agencies are pursuing him because of his faith and his critique of the Narendra Modi government and the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party.

However, over time, the country also began taking precautions against Naik, and banned him from public speaking back in 2019.