Dhaka/New Delhi: The Bangladesh government today banned the broadcasting of India-based controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik's Peace TV, PTI reported.
The Cabinet Committee on law and order has taken the decision in a special meeting on Sunday, Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu, who heads the panel, told reporters.
In the meeting, attended by senior ministers and top security officials, it was also decided to monitor the sermons given during the Friday prayers to check whether any provocative lectures are delivered, Amu told reporters.
The government also appealed to the Imams in the country to deliver lectures in line with real Islamic ideology of denouncing terrorism and extremism, the minister said.
Besides senior ministers, the meeting was attended by chief of police and head of the elite Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), paramilitary border guards and top officials of different security agencies. Deployment of additional security forces at export processing zone was also ordered.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan had yesterday said that Bangladesh's intelligence agencies were investigating the Islamic preacher Naik. "He is on our security scanner... Our intelligence agencies are investigating his activities as his lectures appeared provocative," Khan had told PTI.
Khan said the investigators were also probing Naik's financial transactions in Bangladesh.
Meanwhile in India, following the Centre's tough stand on Zakir Naik's controversial comments on terrorism, nine teams from the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and other agencies are scanning his activities, while special teams are scanning every footage of his speeches.
According to Home Ministry sources, ANI reported that four teams have been constituted to scan footage and CDs of the speeches and three teams are scanning social sites, while two are monitoring his social media posts.
The initial inquiries founded that Naik's speeches are provocative, objectionable and so is his writing. Besides, his NGO's operations have also been branded suspicious. It has also been found that the funds sent for his 'charitable activities' are being misused.
The MHA is also examining his Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) funding clearance and irregularities.
Naik’s phone calls, emails, sponsors for his foreign trips and meetings are also under the scanner of probe agencies.
According to a report in Times of India, Naik may be banned soon and the Centre has sought fresh legal opinion on the matter.
Meanwhile, Naik has sought support from the Muslim community against what he called was a “media trial” over allegedly provocative statements promoting militant views that have triggered calls for his arrest.
Introducing a new Twitter handle -- @drzakirofficial – the Mumbai-based preacher also appealed to people around the world to “eliminate terrorism from our midst”.
“I, Dr Zakir Naik, Call upon all my Muslim Brothers & Sisters to Support me against the “Media Trials” and Let Justice Prevail (sic),” Naik tweeted.
Naik, 51, founder of the Mumbai-based Islamic Research Foundation (IRF), also introduced his new Twitter handle on his Facebook page.
Naik has come under the scanner of the Indian government after reports emerged that two among a group of terrorists who killed 22 people in a posh Dhaka cafe last week were allegedly inspired by his speeches.
According to reports, several Indian youth who have taken to militancy are also believed to have been “inspired” by Naik’s speeches, made at public functions and through his television channel Peace TV.
He is also the founder of Peace TV Bangla and Peace TV Urdu.
Naik, a doctor by profession, is banned in Britain and Canada for alleged hate speeches.
