India to ask Malaysia to extradite Zakir Naik

India will very soon ask Malaysia to extradite Islamist preacher Zakir Naik, who has of late been accused by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for making hate-speeches against other religions.

New Delhi is completing the internal legal process required to ask Kuala Lumpur to extradite Naik, who has of late been purportedly granted permanent residency in Malaysia. The Ministry of External Affairs is in consultation with the NIA and other law-enforcing agencies to prepare for asking Malaysian Government to send him back to India.

Raveesh Kumar, the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, on Friday told journalists that New Delhi was about to complete the legal process, which was required to be pursued in India before seeking assistance of Malaysian Government to bring back Naik from the South East Asian nation.

"Any formal request where we are seeking the assistance of a foreign government in cases of extradition, it requires a legal process – internally first," Kumar said when he was asked if India would ask Malaysia for extradition of Naik. "At this stage," added the MEA spokesperson, "I can share with you that we are nearing the



completeion of this exercise and, once this exercise, is complete, we will soon make an official request to Malaysian Government in this matter".

New Delhi will invoke the extradition treaty, which India and Mayasia inked in 2010, to ask Kuala Lumpur to send back Naik.Naik was last month purportedly seen worshipping at the famous Putra Mosque in Putrajaya near Kuala Lumpur.

The Putra Mosque is close to the seat of the Malaysian government and is regularly visited by top leaders of Malaysia, including Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Naik was under investigation for trying to radicalize youths through his speeches on TV. The NIA on October 26 filed a charge sheet accusing the tele-evangelist of "promoting enmity and hatred between different religious groups" in the country through "his public speeches and lectures".

The NIA investigation alleged that Naik was the founding trustee and a member of an "unlawful association" called the Islamic Research Foundation. He was also accused of committing "deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs".