PETALING JAYA: Preacher Zakir Naik has expressed confidence that the Malaysian government will stand by him and oppose any move by the Indian government to extradite him.
“I am positive that the Malaysian government will not be misled by the politically motivated allegations made by the anti-Islamic Indian government,” he told theSun.
Zakir noted that Malaysia had, in November 2013, awarded him the International Tokoh Maal Hijrah award, one of the country’s highest accolades.
“I was the fourth foreigner to ever receive it. You don’t expect the Malaysian government to award (it to) me without verifying my credentials,” he added.
Zakir pointed out that the Indian government had already failed twice to get Interpol to extradite him to India to face charges.
“I don’t see the stance changing.”
He said India failed to produce any evidence to back up the charges against him, thus compelling Interpol to withhold the issuing of a red notice.
“Now, from terror charges, the Indian government has decided to focus on money laundering charges in an attempt to get Interpol to issue a red notice.”
“Fortunately for me, Interpol is not driven by Indian politics and they need to be convinced that a crime has been committed before issuing a red notice,” he added.
