Sushma asks Malaysia to extradite Zakir Naik

ISLAMABAD: Indian Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj has personally joined the efforts for getting Muslim preacher Zakir Naik extradited from Malaysia when she took up the matter with visiting Malaysia's minister of human resources M Kula Segaran on Monday in New Delhi.

According to media reports, she failed in obtaining any assurance on this count. Malaysia is yet to take a call on extraditing Muslim preacher Zakir Naik to India and the matter could end up being decided by the country's courts, a senior Malaysian minister told external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj when she raised the issue during a meeting in Indian capital.

Zakir Naik, who left India in July, 2016, is wanted for terror and money laundering allegations. In January, the ministry of external affairs (MEA) made a formal request to Malaysia to deport Naik. Malaysia's minister of human resources M Kula Segaran, who is on an Indianvisit, said Swaraj sought Naik’s early extradition during a meeting.

“She was asking for the latest on Zakir Naik, whether he will be deported from Malaysia. I did say that no final decision has been taken by the Malaysian government,” he told an Indian wire service. He also told Swaraj that the Malaysian government could leave it to the courts to decide. Asked how the extradition request could progress according to Malaysia’s laws, he said, “If the government decides to deport him, that is end of the matter for us, but Zakir Naik can still challenge (it). If the government decides not to deport, we can refer it to the court and ask the court to decide the matter.”

Malaysia will ensure necessary “justice and fair-play” in the matter, he asserted. Asked if that means the court could end up deciding on his deportation, the Malaysian minister answered in the affirmative.

He added that first the cabinet led by Prime Minister Mahathir Muhammad will decide. Naik, who is in Malaysia, in a statement published in Malaysian newspapers in July, had thanked Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir Muhammad for examining his case from an “unbiased perspective”.

Mahathir, who had met the Indian cleric in July, had said that Malaysia will not deport Naik to India as long as he does not create problems in the country. The previous Malaysian government had granted Naik permanent resident status. Indian National Investigation Agency (NIA), that probes terror cases, had last year filed a charge-sheet in a court against Naik for allegedly inciting youth to take up terror activities, giving hate speeches and promoting enmity between communities (religions). It had first registered a case against Naik under anti-terror laws in 2016. Naik is also under investigation for issuing hate speeches that reportedly inspired a deadly terror attack on a popular cafe in Dhaka in 2016. The case was registered on Indian agencies behest. Naik’s Mumbai-based non-government organisation, Islamic Research Foundation (IRF), has been declared an unlawful association by the Indian Union home ministry. In a tweet, MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said Kula Segaran and Swaraj discussed ways to enhance capacity building and fostering people-to-people contacts.