DAP blames Zakir Naik for LTTE arrests

(FMT) – A DAP Youth leader today suggested that the recent crackdown on sympathisers of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) could be due to the presence of controversial preacher Dr Zakir Naik.

Satees Muniandy, the wing’s international secretary, said the perception that the now-defunct Sri Lankan militant group posed a threat had been blown out of proportion “for some other reasons”.

He also said that the demonisation of DAP had to do with the “deep state” flinging into action.

Satees said the “LTTE bogeyman episode” would not have arisen without the arrival of Naik, who fled Indian authorities who wanted to question him over various issues.

“The move to neutralise the opposition to Zakir Naik could have activated the designs of the deep state and those powerful figures bent on producing a particular outcome,” the Bagan Dalam assemblyman said.

Naik, who is wanted by authorities in India for money laundering, has been given permanent resident status in Malaysia.

Home Minister Muhyiddin Yassin had recently denied that DAP was being targeted by “deep state” over alleged links to LTTE, saying those charged over links to the terrorist group just happened to be from the party.

Earlier this month, three DAP members, including two assemblymen were charged with terrorism involvement. They were among the 12 nabbed for suspected links to LTTE.

Satees meanwhile hit out at the Attorney-General’s Chambers for “approving the charges of the police against the 12 individuals.”

The European Union, he said, had delisted LTTE several years ago for not posing a threat, while the United States did not identify the group as a potential threat in a recent report on terrorism.

“The Malaysian government seems to be caught in a peculiar kind of entrapment that keeps the LTTE ‘alive’,” he said.