New Delhi: The Centre on Tuesday banned controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik's NGO 'Islamic Research Foundation' for five years terming it illegal.
The law enforcing Agencies will be maintaining strict surveillance of the activities of all the establishments of the Foundation.
This development came after the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) began the cancellation process of Naik's Islamic Research Foundation's Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) registration.
Earlier, the Centre had asserted that Zakir Naik's Islamic Research Foundation is maligning India and, therefore, it is correct to ban it.
"If any person tries to malign society, tries to divide it, create tension between the people and hamper peace in the country then the government and people always will take strict and sever action against them," Minister of State for Parliamentary Affair Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said.
Naik came under the scanner after the Bangladeshi newspaper 'Daily Star' revealed that one of the perpetrators of the July 1 terror attack in Dhaka, Rohan Imtiaz, ran propaganda on Facebook that said he was inspired by Naik to carry out the crime.
Naik is banned in both the U.K. and Canada for his alleged hate speeches aimed against other religions.
He is among the 16 banned Islamic scholars in Malaysia. He is also accused of radicalizing and attracting youth for terror acts and has come under the scanner of the security agencies.
