No extradition tonight: Malaysia police on Zakir Naik

NEW DELHI: The re-election of Mahathir Mohamad as Malaysian PM has raised hopes of extradition of controversial preacher Zakir Naik to India as the veteran leader has been overturning many of decisions undertaken by his predecessor Najib Razak.

While Malaysian Inspector General of Police Tan Sri Mohamad Fuzi Harun claimed Naik will not be extradited to India tonight, hopes have increased following Mahathir’s decisive moves against many of his predecessor’s decisions.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had made a formal request to the government of Malaysia for his extradition last January and has been pursuing it through diplomatic channels.


“We have seen media reports regarding the deportation of Zakir Naik by the Malaysian government. We are yet to receive official confirmation in this regard from Malaysian authorities,” a MEA source stated.

PM Mahathir and PM Narendra Modi had a warm meeting in Kuala Lumpur on May 31 when the Indian PM in a key gesture decided to have stopover in Kuala Lumpur between Jakarta and Singapore.

Naik is facing a probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) after his sermons on his channel , Peace TV, were cited as a reason by Bangladesh for an attack in Dhaka in 2016, which left 22 people dead.

Naik’s Non-governmental organisation (NGO) – Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) – has also been declared unlawful since 2016 and is being probed by the ED over allegations of money laundering to the tune of more than Rs. 18 crore. Naik left India in July 2016 and members of the Razak government in Malaysia were allegedly sympathetic to Naik.