NEW DELHI: Controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik has been summoned by authorities in Malaysia for his recent controversial and racially insensitive comments, reports said.
The ‘radical’ preacher has allegedly made controversial statements against the Hindu community in Malaysia and Uyghur Muslims of China.
Malaysian activist Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir, who is the eldest daughter of Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, flayed Zakir Naik’s remarks in a tweet that read: “That’s rather a lot of my family, who are you to tell us that?”
Zakir Naik, who is wanted in India has reportedly said the ‘Chinese Malaysians’ should go back as they were the ‘old guests’ of the country.
Malaysian authorities last year said they would not extradite Zakir to India despite receiving an extradition application from India to face money-laundering charges.
On August 14, External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar held a meeting with Malaysian Minister P Waytha Moorthy, Special envoy of PM Mahathir.
“Pleasure to receive Malaysian Minister P Waytha Moorthy, Special envoy of PM Mahathir. Appreciate his warm greetings on PM Narendra Modi’s victory in the elections. Continue to work together to build on our special relationship,” Dr Jaishankar had tweeted.
Reports said, the move comes after several ministers demanded Naik’s expulsion on Wednesday after he said Hindus in Malaysia had “100 times more rights” than the Muslim minority in India.
“We have expressed our position which is that action must be taken and that Zakir Naik should no longer be allowed to remain in Malaysia,” said Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo and Human Resources Minister M Kulasegaran in a joint statement.
“The Prime Minister has taken note of our concerns. We leave it to him to consider the position and to decide soonest possible what will be done to deal with the problem,” the statement said.
(agencies)
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