A SPECIAL court in India has issued a non-bailable warrant for controversial preacher Dr Zakir Naik today.

According to The Times of India news portal, the special court found substance in the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) allegations against Zakir.

“There are reasonable grounds to believe that Dr Zakir Naik is evading arrest and he will not voluntarily appear before the court or the investigating agency.

“As such, I am of the view that a non-bailable warrant of arrest is necessary,” said special judge V.V. Patil.

In its application, the NIA said Zakir had been promoting enmity between different religious groups in India through his public speeches and lectures on various platforms and inciting Muslim youth and terrorists in India and abroad to commit unlawful activities and terrorist acts.

NIA is a central agency created by India following the terror attack in Mumbai on December 26, 2008.

On Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told reporters that Zakir was given Malaysian permanent resident status some five years ago.

The controversial speaker told the media on April 16 that he was willing to cooperate with NIA if the interviews were done on neutral ground.

He said this after accepting a gallantry award from Malay rights group Perkasa for his work in promoting Islam and peace.

Several government leaders like Health Minister Dr S. Subramaniam have said that Zakir was not needed in Malaysia.

“We can do without Zakir Naik, as he is doing it outside the Malaysian context. Here, if you are Buddhist, you are doing it in a Malaysian context… if you are Hindu, you are doing it in Malaysian context,” said Dr Subramaniam on Wednesday. 

Parti Rakyat Sarawak president Dr James Masing said Zakir was a “dangerous” person for a pluralistic country such as Malaysia and asked for his PR status to be reviewed. – April 21, 2017.