DR Mahathir Mohamad has again denied that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asked for the extradition of controversial preacher Zakir Naik to face terrorism and money-laundering charges in India.
“I met Modi but he didn’t raise the issue (of extradition). He did mention about Zakir but he didn’t ask for Zakir to be sent back to India,” Dr Mahathir told reporters after the launch of Wisma Putra’s foreign policy framework in Putrajaya today.
Dr Mahathir was responding to Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar’s comments that India had asked for Zakir to be extradited.
Both countries have different versions on whether there was an extradition request for Zakir.
Dr Mahathir has maintained that his Indian counterpart did not ask for one during their meeting in Russia earlier this month while India insists there was a request made.
The issue was raised again yesterday when Dr Mahathir told BFM’s Breakfast Grille programme that Malaysia is trying to find a country that will accept Zakir, but “no one” wants the controversial preacher.
The prime minister said this when asked about the perception that Putrajaya is “protecting” Zakir.
“We are trying to find a place that he can go to, but at the moment, no one wants to accept him,” Dr Mahathir had said.
India responded by reminding Dr Mahathir it would be happy to take Zakir.
Jaishankar had said: “Let me make it very clear for the record. There is an extradition request (sent in January 2018). We want Zakir back and that is what we are working on”.
– https://www.themalaysianinsight.com
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