MUMBAI HOTELS REFUSE TO HOST ZAKIR’S ISLAMIC RESEARCH BODY

MUMBAI: Islamic Research Foundation (IRF), the citybased organisation headed by Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, claimed that three prominent South Mumbai hotels and World Trade Centre (WTC) did not allow its press conference at their venues despite availability of rooms. If the IRF is to be believed, two of the venues cancelled the event after the organisation booked them.

Two of the six terrorists who attacked the Holey Artisan Café in Dhaka, Bangladesh, two weeks ago were allegedly influenced by Naik’s speeches. Naik runs the IRF in Mumbai.

IRF office-bearers said that the organisation had been trying since Tuesday to hold a press conference where Naik was to clarify his position on terrorism through a video-call, but were unable to find a suitable location in the city.

“We first booked a hotel in Colaba on Tuesday evening but within minutes of booking, we received a call from the hotel informing us they won’t be able to allow us to hold the press conference. Two other hotels also refused, despite availability of rooms,” said Ashraf Malik from the IRF.

The organisers managed to book a hall at aWTC in Cuffe Parade but even this venue, according to the organisers, pulled out on Wednesday.

“We had sent invites to mediapersons for the press conference. But today we were told that we won’t be able to conduct the event due to a ‘power breakdown’ at the centre. How can a world-class centre not have a back-up for power outages?” said Malik.

A spokesperson for WTC, however, said that no booking was made by IRF.

The press conference will now be held at a banquet hall in Madanpura on Thursday.