Malaysia may consider extradition of Zakir Naik if evidence is submitted, hints Anwar Ibrahim
Malaysian PM Anwar Ibrahim has hinted that his administration may consider the extradition of Islamic preacher Zakir Naik to India and said he is "open to any ideas and evidence submitted".
Naik, who faces charges of money laundering and hate speech in India, has been living in exile in Malaysia since 2017, as a runaway fugitive.
He left India in 2016.
He was granted a permanent residency by Malaysia's previous government led by Mahathir Mohamed.
Anwar Ibrahim, who was in India recently and met PM Narendra Modi, was quoted as saying by Firstpost: " It was not raised by the prime minister. He did raise much earlier, many years back. But the issue is, I’m not talking about one person, I’m talking about the sentiment of extremism, of compelling cases and evidence that suggests the atrocities committed by an individual or groups or parties."
"These are of concern to us. The atrocities of Israeli forces in Gaza, that is real… We are open to any ideas and if evidence is submitted, we will not condone terrorism," he said.
India and Malaysia signed nine MoUs during PM Anwar Ibrahim's visit to New Delhi on Tuesday.
Following the bilateral meeting between Ibrahim and Indian PM Narendra Modi, 10 announcements related to both nations were also made.
Narendra Modi and his Malaysian counterpart to further intensify the multi-dimensional relationship.
At the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dato’ Seri Anwar bin Ibrahim will pay a State Visit to India on August 19-21.
This was the first visit of Anwar Ibrahim as the Prime Minister of Malaysia.
India and Malaysia have strong historical and socio-cultural linkages. Our bilateral relationship was elevated to the status of Enhanced Strategic Partnership in 2015 during the visit of Prime Minister Modi.
As both countries enter the second decade of Enhanced Strategic Partnership next year, the visit of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim would pave way for further strengthening of India-Malaysia bilateral ties by charting out a multi-sectoral cooperation agenda for the future.