New Delhi/Mumbai, July 11: In a development seen as a fallout of the Zakir Naik episode, Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Minister Venkaiah Naidu on Monday warned of strict action against unauthorized channels on television networks.
The government has banned Peace TV after its promoter Zakir Naik was accused of inciting the terrorists involved in the deadly Dhaka attack.
He's also been the subject of a probe to find out if he promoted hard line views on Islam and belittling the other religions and incited religious fundamentalists to commit crimes.
The I&B Ministry has written letters to all the state chief ministers asking them to take strict action against unauthorized TV broadcast, Naidu said.
He also appealed to the public to inform the ministry if they see any unauthorized channels on cable networks, the minister added.
Meanwhile, the controversial 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 mis-utilises them,” he said.
He reiterated that he “does not support terrorism or violence and neither does he support any terrorist organisation.”
