PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia is ready to assist India in its terrorism investigation against controversial Islamic scholar Dr Zakir Naik, if there is a request to do so, said Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi today.
The Deputy Prime Minister said Malaysia's assistance will be based on the legal system framework including taking into account the existing diplomatic ties between the two nations.
He said this today when asked if Malaysia would surrender Zakir to the Indian authorities.
"If India requests for our help, we will do so. It is not a matter of surrendering him, but it is about the investigations (into the alleged case against Zakir)," he told reporters after the launch of the Human Ecology International Conference 2017.
To a question, Zahid, who is also Home Minister, confirmed that Zakir is not a Malaysian citizen but hold a permanent resident status for more than five years.
Zakir, on Saturday was reported as saying that the Indian government should locate him in Malaysia over the terrorism investigation against him.
He said that he was not willing to present himself before India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA), claiming that instances of abuse were rife among Muslim activists.