Pakistan can’t invite investors so it invited Zakir Naik to “radicalise” their people, former Afghanistan Vice-President Amrullah Saleh said on Saturday as he hit out at the controversial Islamic preacher for “bullying” innocent Pakistanis.
In an interview with CNN-News18, Saleh also said praising Taliban was “like rubbing salt and vinegar together” on the wounds of the Afghan people. On Friday, Saleh had urged Naik to abandon several practices, including wearing suits, restricting women participants in his sessions, not getting snapped, and other things, if he aligns with the Talibani mindset.
Edited Excerpts:
You have given a long list of dos and don’ts to Zakir Naik. And one can make out you are disappointed. Please explain.
He had some words of praise for the Taliban which was very disturbing for tens of millions of Afghans who suffer under the rule of clerical dictatorship with no precedent in history. When he made those comments, I could not think of giving him any title but a stage charlatan. He hardly gets into in-depth discussions.
Zakir Naik is called to Pakistan knowing his credentials in India. You have been watching him for the last few weeks. How do you see his behaviour in Pakistan because earlier he was critical of India and now he’s supporting Taliban.
I suspect Pakistan suffers from lack of good publicity and good headlines. Islamabad couldn’t invite an investor, they could not do an industrial exhibition, launch an international art festival or do anything meaningful. The easy choice was to invite Zakir Naik and get his validation for Pakistan’s Islamiate.
Pakistan has many hardcore Maulvis. According to you, why did they invite Naik for three weeks?
I watched some of the talk shows. Naik bullied several courageous questioners by deliberately misinterpreting their comments or questions. The young Pashtun lady Palwasha questioned paedophilia in Pakistan. Instead of answering the question, he accused her of causing confusion. Anyway, I am not going into a debate with him. I was quiet until he forced us to speak up when he made the most ignorant comment on the situation of my country. And he made the comment from a wrong location. Being a guest of the Pakistani state and praising the Taliban is like rubbing salt and vinegar together on the wounds of the Afghan people.
You think he is trying to gain ground in Afghanistan to create more radical atmosphere there?
I am not sure if anyone has fact-checked all those references he gives, especially when he mentions pages. Because the sizes of books aren’t the same so how come he gives out page numbers? Anyway, that is for someone else to comment on.
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