After Islamic evangelist and preacher Zakir Naik showed the inability to go to the Indian embassy in Malaysia for authentication of his credentials for vakalatnama, the UAPA tribunal said, "He is bound to file a vakalatnama in proper format with proper authentication or he may remain physically present on the next date of hearing."
But three years after the apex court settled the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute, there are no signs of any building activity on the proposed mosque site.
"The weak don't survive, the strong survive. You make peace, alliances with the strong. You are able to maintain peace by being strong," he said.
The avoidable stresses and strains in ties helped in one way. It showed for the entire region how a matured India handled diplomatic relations, especially with a smaller and suspicious neighbour, with practised dignity and patience, unruffled by provocations in word, deed and action, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Naik is said to have acquired citizenship of Saudi Arabia but this has not been confirmed yet.
The IRF was banned for five years by the government last year under the UAPA for its alleged terror activities.
The action by the NIA came barely a few days after the Union Cabinet declared IRF as a banned organisation under UAPA.
The NIA has questioned around 20 associates of Naik, including his sister Nailah Naushad Noorani, in connection with its investigation, they said.
5 joint secretaries serving in the ministry of home affairs on Tuesday met Home Minister Rajnath Singh and urged him to reconsider the decision to suspend senior IAS officer G K Dwivedi for renewal of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act licence of controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik's NGO.
Naik also cancelled his press conference scheduled in Mumbai on Tuesday but will address media through Skype.
Naik failed to respond to a showcause notice issued to him for personal appearance by July 13.
The IRF, in its plea, has challenged the November 17, 2016, notification of the ministry of home affairs which had imposed an immediate ban on the organisation under UAPA.
The Indo Islamic Cultural Foundation, which has been set up for the construction of the mosque, will build a mosque along with a hospital, library, community kitchen and research institute, on the land.
'Naik is an outcome of an image-centric Islam, which is linked to the technological changes introduced by new media.' 'English educated upper middle class Muslims embraced Naik's image-centric Islam in the 1990s.' 'Television converted him into a religious object.'
Home Minister also said CDs of Naik's speeches are being examined and asserted that the government will not compromise on the issue of terrorism.
Holding that Naik's foundation's plea challenging the Centre's decision has "no merit", the court said the order of the government was "not arbitrary and illegal".
Britain and Canada have already banned Naik from visiting several years ago.
The National Investigation Agency carried out searches at the premises of controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, his NGO and a few associates for the third consecutive day on Monday, even as it blocked the website of outlawed Islamic Research Foundation founded by him.
Following the Centre's tough stand on Islamic preacher Zakir Naik's controversial comments on terrorism, nine teams from the National Intelligence Agency, the Intelligence Bureau and other agencies are scanning the former's activities, while special teams are scanning every footage of his speeches.
Controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik on Sunday claimed that there has been no misuse of funds by his banned NGO and rejected all allegations of involvement in terror-related activities.
The home ministry also ordered a probe by the Computer Emergency Response Team-India to ascertain whether there was hacking of government software systems as there have been several instances where licences of NGOs under scrutiny were renewed automatically.
In a four-page 'open letter' released in Mumbai, Naik posed five questions to the government.
Cut off from the world and having to contend with an orthodox and repressive Taliban government, Afghans are facing the brunt of Pakistan's decades old policy of nurturing militant groups, note Harsh V Pant and Kriti M Shah four months after the Taliban took Kabul.
"The design of the mosque has been prepared using modern technology, and it will be egg-shaped without any dome. The two-storeyed mosque will not have any minaret. Solar power will be installed in the mosque, and around 2,000 people will be able to offer 'namaaz' at the same time," he said.
In an open letter, Naik, 51, who is abroad, said he will pursue all legal options to get the ban repealed and that the judiciary will fail the Modi government in its 'plans'.
The plea, filed by advocates Shishir Chaturvedi and Karunesh Kumar Shukla, said that apart from private individuals and members of state Sunni Board, the presence of central and state government representatives was essential to ensure proper management of the funds.
The 51-year-old televangelist, who is currently abroad, is being probed under terror and money-laundering charges by the NIA.
The controversial Islamic preacher also said that his remarks were being blown out of context and that he is a messenger of peace.
India and Indians can ignore Pakistan, but that cannot be said of other nations in the neighbourhood, where New Delhi's 'Neighbourhood First' policy constantly reverberates. Four of the eight SAARC member-nations are Muslim -- Afghanistan and Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Maldives. The rulers decide the nation's India or anti-India policy in the first two, and street-opinion contributes to the same in the latter two, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The mosque is coming up in the Uttar Pradesh district pursuant to the Supreme Court verdict in the Ram Janmabhoomi case.
Backing New Delhi's quest for a permanent seat in the UNSC, Rouhani asked why India, a nation with population of 1.3 billion, was not a member of the powerful club.
The state government has allotted the five-acre plot in Ayodhya's Dhannipur for the construction of the mosque on the directive of the apex court.
The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991 provides for maintaining the 'religious character' of holy structures as it existed on August 15, 1947.
The dinner Jill Biden and her husband US President Joe Biden hosted for Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, June 22, at the White House brought together, Indians and Americans from so many firmaments.
During the freedom struggle, Shah had launched revolts in the Awadh region. He made the local mosque, Masjid Sarai, located in Chowk area of Faizabad his headquarters. As he liberated Faizabad and larger part of Awadh region, he used the premises of this mosque to hold meetings with rebel leaders.
Indian claims to the Ram story and ownership could be challenged from more places than one, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Pradeep Sharma, mechanical engineer at the University of Houston, Kavita Ramanan, professor of Applied Mathematics at Brown University, Dilip Da Cunha, architect, planner and teacher at Harvard University and Columbia University, Mukul Sharma, professor of Earth Sciences at Dartmouth College, and Tahera Qutbuddin, professor of Arabic Literature and Islamic Studies at the University of Chicago, have been awarded the 2020 Guggenheim fellowships.
The battle to manage the international environment over Kashmir has just begun, but what is expected to help is the lifting of internal controls. All eyes are now on that exercise. Aditi Phadnis reports.
As of now, there is nothing to suggest that the 'Michaelpatti episode' has the potential to polarise Dravidian Tamil Nadu on religious lines, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'The idea is to have a place where people can come together and bridge the gap. It will be a contemporary design for the future, and not have the shadows of the past' Ritwik Sharma reports.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances