Zakir Naik ready to join probe

Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, who was expected to return from Saudi Arabia today, said he would be abroad for another 2-3 weeks and was ready to cooperate with any Indian agency investigating allegations against him. Naik, facing allegations of inspiring terrorism through his provocative speeches, also cancelled his scheduled press conference via Skype tomorrow and suggested that he has become a victim of media trial. In a statement released from abroad this evening, he said no Indian government agency has so far contacted him over the allegations against him. "So far, not a single official Indian government agency has contacted me for any clarification regarding this issue. It would be my pleasure to cooperate with any official Indian government investigation agency for any information they might require from me," he said. Naik, however, accused the media of "twisting and not publishing unedited statements and mutilating and misutilising statements to serve their vested agenda". "If time permits, in the next few days I will give replies to some of the major allegations on video and give it to the media and put it up on social media as well and other public platforms so that the original answers are also available if the media misutilises them," he said. He reiterated that he "does not support terrorism or violence and neither does he support any terrorist organisation." An aide of Naik said, "His (Naik's) travel schedule had been made long back. After performing Umrah, he is scheduled to travel to Jeddah from where he will visit Africa for his public talks scheduled there. He is therefore not expected in the country for another 2-3 weeks at least." "Zakir Naik was never supposed to be physically present for the media briefing that was to take place on Tuesday. He had decided that he would address the media through Skype and answer all queries that media persons may have had," he said. Apart from coming under scanner in India, Bangladesh has also banned the broadcast of Naik's Peace TV, cracking down on the channel and radical sermons by the 'televangelist'.