MUSLIM preacher Zakir Naik is the common denominator among more than 100 terror suspects linked to the Islamic State group who were arrested by Indian security forces, India’s National Investigation Agency said today.

Top agency official Alok Mittal told a conference of counter-terror teams in New Delhi that 127 people were arrested across India for suspected terrorist links and “a common factor in the radicalisation of majority of these suspects was Zakir Naik”, Hindustan Times reports.

The suspects are reported to have been inspired by Zakir’s speeches. 

The preacher and his religious rhetoric came to the attention of Indian police after the suspects in a deadly Dhaka terror attack in 2016 cited Zakir as the inspiration for the massacre of 29 people.

The Mumbai-born Zakir is the founder of Peace TV, an Islamic satellite television channel that has been banned in several countries, including Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

The preacher, who is wanted in India on charges of promoting terror and money laundering, has found asylum in Malaysia as a permanent resident. 

India has made several calls for his extradition but Malaysian officials, including Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, have maintained that the suspect would be tortured and even killed if he were to be sent home.

Zakir’s continued presence in Malaysia, however, is a contentious subject that has split the people along ethnic and religious lines. His recent remarks about the Indian and Chinese communities in Malaysia has resulted in a police gag order that extends to his being prohibited from addressing the Malaysian public on social media.

This has riled up his supporters, who perceive this to be an incursion on their religious rights.

The preacher is also involved in a spat with several Indian Malaysian leaders, who want him deported for causing conflict between the races. Zakir has threatened to sue them for slander but has yet to make good on the threat.

A police investigation is ongoing into the allegations on both sides. – October 14, 2019.