Govt ties NGO ban to Zakir’s Osama praise
Justifying the ban on controversial preacher Zakir Naik’s organisation Islamic Research Foundation, the Centre has said that he was extolling Osama Bin Laden, proclaiming that every Muslim should be a terrorist and claiming that if Muslims had actually tried, 80 per cent of Indians would not have remained Hindus.
The gazette notification issued by the Union home ministry on Thursday while banning IRF said, “The Central government has received information that the statements and speeches made by Zakir Naik, the president of IRF, are objectionable and subversive in nature as he has been extolling known terrorists like Osama Bin Laden, proclaiming that every Muslim should be a terrorist and claiming that if Islam had indeed wanted, 80 per cent of the Indian population would not have remained Hindus as they could have been converted ‘if we wanted’, by sword, justifying the suicide bombings, posting objectionable comments against Hindu gods, claiming that the Golden Temple may not be as sacred as Mecca and Medina, and making other statements which are derogatory to other religions.’’
The Union Cabinet had banned IRF for a period of five years under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act a couple of days ago. The notification to that effect also added that Zakir Naik has been encouraging and aiding his followers to promote or attempt to promote, on the grounds of religion, disharmony or feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will between different religious communities.
“Statements of some terrorists arrested in the terrorist attack incidents or arrested ISIS sympathisers revealed that they were inspired by the fundamentalist statements of Naik, clearly indicating the subversive nature of his preachings and speeches,’’ the notification issued by joint secretary in the home ministry, Sudhir Kumar Saxena, said.
“If urgent steps are not taken there is every possibility of many youth being motivated and radicalised to commit terrorist acts,” the notification said, justifying the ban on the IRF.