AIMIM jumps to Zakir Naik's rescue, slams media trial

Mumbai: The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) on Tuesday lambasted the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the ongoing controversy surrounding controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik and accused the media of distorting the facts for their own convenience. "What we are seeing is that some of the channels, who are hounding Mr. Zakir for the past few days, are distorting the facts for their own convenience and projecting as if we have given a clean chit to him," AIMIM's Imtiaz Jaleel told ANI. "Let me reiterate we are nobody in this country. The main thing is that we respect the law of the land, we respect the judiciary," he added. Jaleel further said ever since the BJP-led government has come to power, the trend to be witnessed is that the investigating agencies charge some individuals of wrong doing and the media jumps to the conclusion before actually the case goes in the court. "If this is the case then close down all the courts in the country and let the media and the investigating agencies pronounce the judgments," he said. Following reports that at least one of the terrorists involved in a strike on a cafe in Dhaka on July 1 was inspired by Naik, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had earlier advised Muslim leaders and preachers to guide youth to avoid the path of terrorism. "Bangladeshi investigators are reporting that some of the terrorists who perpetrated the dastardly and ghastly attack last week actually were influenced by the preachings of Zakir Naik," BJP spokesperson GVL Narsimha Rao told ANI. "In the present scenario, we expect the preachers, the gurus and Muslim leaders to tell the youth to take the right path," he added. Zakir Abdul Karim Naik, 51, is an Islamic preacher, who founded the Islamic Research Foundation in 1991 when he started Dawah or religious preaching. His lectures mostly revolve around how Islam is superior to all other faiths. While he claims to be an advocate of interfaith dialogue, his preaching's' reinforce all the stereotypes which exist against Muslims. Earlier, 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 began scanning the former's activities, while special teams scanned every footage of his speeches. Sources stated that Naik may be banned soon and the Centre has sought fresh legal opinion regarding the controversial preacher. The government is most likely gearing up to make a strong legal case against Naik.