Days after the Easter Sunday bomb attack in Sri Lanka, the cable operators of the island country have blocked radical Islamic preacher Zakir Naik’s Peace TV, according to reports.
Cable operators in Sri Lanka block Zakir Naik’s Peace Tv. | @NikunjGargN shares details with @Swatij14. pic.twitter.com/zIBjAtpup4
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) May 1, 2019
As per reports, two of the largest cable operators of Sri Lanka, Dialogue and LT, had stopped airing Zakir Naik’s Peace TV. However, an official announcement regarding the development is yet to be made.
Earlier, Sri Lanka had also passed an order to ban all forms of face covering including the Islamic Burqa.
After UK and Canada, India and Bangladesh had also banned Peace TV which has often been used by ISIS recruiters for indoctrination and brainwashing. For inciting religious intolerance and violent extremism, Naik’s talks and speeches had been declared ‘highly objectionable’ by the Government of India.
In the latest, after the ISIS suspect Riyas Aboobacker alias Abu Dujana admitted that he had been following speeches and videos of Zakir Naik, Sri Lanka too has decided to follow suit.
The NIA had on Monday arrested a man in Kerala as a part of the probe following the Easter Sunday blast in Sri Lanka. The arrested terrorist, Riyaz Aboobacker, alias Abu Dujana, 28, of Kollengode, Palakkad, during his interrogation, revealed that he was planning to conduct a suicide bomb blast in Kerala, similar to the Sri Lankan blast.
An official statement by NIA said that the accused admitted of following speeches and videos of Zahran Hashim, the mastermind behind the Sri Lankan blast, for more than a year and had also followed the speeches of Zakir Naik, the radical Islamist preacher.
Meanwhile, the controversial Islamic preacher, Naik is being probed by Indian agencies since 2016 after the Centre banned his Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) organisation for five years.
Fearing arrest, Zakir Naik, the radical Islamist preacher against whom Interpol is likely to issue a red corner notice on India’s request, is currently holed up in Malaysia, since he fled India on 1 July 2016 after an investigation against him was initiated under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.
Naik is being investigated for suspected links with terror organisations and money laundering. NIA which has been in relentless pursuit had in December 2017 had planned on moving a request for his provisional arrest. Apart from this the NIA also made a fresh plea with Interpol for the issuance of a red corner notice (RCN) against him.
Meanwhile, in order to oppose this, Naik has alleged that the case against him was related to the religious persecution of minorities in India. He also reportedly played the victim by claiming that Indian agencies were unfairly targeting him because he is a Muslim.
Moreover, the NIA had managed to revoke Zakir Naik’s passport. At the beginning of the year, the Enforcement Directorate had reportedly attached his properties worth Rs.16.40 crore in Mumbai and Pune. Earlier in October 2018, the NIA court had ordered the attachment of five properties belonging to Naik in Mumbai’s Mazgaon area.
Naik, who’ links with the Congress had also emerged, has been notorious in spreading hatred between religious groups and for inciting Muslim youth to join in the jihad against non-believers of Islam. He used to use his NGO ‘Islamic Research Foundation’ (IRF) and a TV channel (Peace TV) to air his hate speeches in the country.
