Its president, Ibrahim Ali, said the move was to counter an earlier letter sent by the Indian rights group Hindraf which cautioned the CTC that Naik was being sought in India over money-laundering and terrorism-related investigations.
Ibrahim said he had read the contents of the letter dated April 28, penned by Hindraf chairman P Waythamoorthy, and found that several points raised were not proper.
“The letter portrayed Malaysia as being complicit and irresponsible, with Muslims in this country as being unconcerned about matters pertaining to terrorism,” he said at a press conference at Perkasa headquarters here.
Ibrahim added that Perkasa does not intend to fight with Hindraf.
“I am not fighting with Hindraf or Waythamoorthy. I am only putting forward my views just as he had written his letter. I am doing the same to defend the truth.”
The letter signed by Ibrahim said that Naik was a target of slander and hatred by Hindraf.
“Dr Zakir Naik has been blindly accused by Hindraf as being involved in terrorism and falsely accused as a fugitive from India in Malaysia.
“They are making false accusations against Zakir Naik and targeting him since their samis (clergy) lost to Zakir in several debate sessions and because of jealousy,” Ibrahim added.
“Hindraf also explicitly accused Dr Zakir Naik of training protégés with his ideology, with the blessing of the current government leaders. This accusation also is untrue since Dr Zakir Naik is spreading the message of Islam and not his own ideology.”
In the letter addressed to CTC chairman Amr Abdellatif Aboulatta, Waythamoorthy had asked the CTC to advise Malaysia, as a member state, to stop harbouring Naik.
“We, in Malaysia, do not want our country to be used for terrorist installations or training camps, or for the preparation or organisation of terrorist acts intended to be committed either domestically or internationally,” he had said in the letter which was delivered to the CTC office in New York by courier.
The former deputy minister also wrote that Naik may have shifted his base of operations to Malaysia to promote or support sectarian activities.
He called on the CTC to advise the Malaysian representative there to cooperate by denying Naik safe haven, revoke his permanent residence (PR), freeze his assets and activities, and apply the “principle of extradition”.
On April 18, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi disclosed that Naik had been given Malaysian PR more than five years ago, even before he took over the post of home minister in May 2013.
In its letter, Perkasa asked the CTC to ignore the issue, including the “slander and wild allegations” against Naik. He said Perkasa believed in the principle that no one is guilty until proven so.
The letter added that former inspector-general of police Musa Hassan had in 2007 said there was evidence that Hindraf tried to obtain support and assistance from international terrorist movements.
It also said former attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail had claimed that Hindraf was involved with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the now defunct insurgent organisation listed as a terrorist outfit in several countries.
In March, India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) had issued a notice for Naik to return to the country for questioning. He failed to do so.
The authorities there have also filed a money-laundering case against Naik, while his Mumbai-based Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) has been accused of inciting Muslims and promoting enmity between different communities.
He is reported to have been barred from entering Canada and the United Kingdom for his alleged support of terrorist activities. In June last year, Bangladesh banned Naik’s channel Peace TV following allegations that it had incited terrorism.