Dhaka: Bangladesh on Monday denied downlink permission for the broadcast of Peace TV, the channel run by controversial Islamist preacher Zakir Naik from India, for allegedly inciting extremism, officials said.
“Its [Peace TV] downlink permission has been cancelled in line with a information ministry decision,” a spokesman of Bangladesh Telecommunication Commission (BTRC) briefly told Gulf News.
The action came a day after the high level-cabinet committee on law and order decided to impose the ban amid allegations that at least one of the five slain perpetrators of the deadly terrorist attack in the Gulshan diplomatic zone were inspired by Naik’s preaching.
The information ministry earlier on Monday issued the directive saying “Based on the Cabinet committee’s decision, free-to-air TV channel Peace TV’s downlink permission has been cancelled for violating downlink conditions”.
An information ministry spokesman said copies of the circular were also sent to the home ministry, press information department, state-run BTV and cable operators association KOAB.
The development came two days after home minister Asaduzzaman Khan told PTI that Naik “is on our security scanner” and “our intelligence agencies are investigating his activities as his lectures appeared provocative”.
He added that the investigators were also focusing Naik’s financial transactions.
Two days ago, information minister Hasanul Haq Inu told journalists the government was examining possibilities of banning the broadcast of Naik’s Peace TV Bangla in the country in view of his controversial preaching.
“Give us some more time for taking a decision in this regard ... but I can tell you we have been receiving complaints about the provocative contents of his (Naik) speeches,” Inu said.
KOAB earlier said they awaited a government directive on broadcast of his Peace TV channel.
“In the past I myself used to watch the channel but after the Gulshan incident, I realised that many people do not view the channel the way I do,” Cable TV Owners’ Association President Mir Hossain Akhtar told a Bangladeshi news agency.
Naik’s Mumbai-based Islamic Research Foundation runs Peace TV, which has a Bangla version targeting the Bangladeshi audience.
Earlier reports said the Indian government might consider taking action against Naik if any request was made by Bangladesh.
The Islamist attack in Gulshan saw 28 deaths with Islamists killing 22 people, 17 being foreigners, while the subsequent army-led clampdown killed six suspected militants.
