NEW DELHI: Centre has extended the ban on the Islamic Research Foundation (IRF), founded by fugitive Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, for another five years, declaring the organisation an unlawful association under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).In a notification issued on Friday, the Union home ministry said the organisation and its members, particularly its founder and president, Dr Zakir Abdul Karim Naik, were allegedly encouraging and assisting followers in promoting enmity, hatred and ill-will between different religious communities. The government said such activities posed a threat to the country’s integrity and security.The notification described speeches and statements made by Naik as “inflammatory and subversive”, alleging that he was promoting religious hatred and inciting young people belonging to a particular religion in India and abroad to commit terrorist acts.It also said Naik had delivered fundamentalist speeches and made statements before millions of people worldwide through international satellite television networks, the internet, print and social media.The home ministry said that if IRF’s activities were not immediately prohibited and controlled, the organisation could continue its subversive activities and reorganise its cadres who had already been convicted. It also warned that the organisation could create communal disharmony, disrupt the country’s secular fabric, propagate anti-national sentiments, support
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terrorism and encourage separatism.IRF was first declared an unlawful association in November 2016 for five years. The ban was subsequently extended in November 2021 for another five-year period. The latest notification comes ahead of the expiry of the existing declaration on November 14, 2026.Naik, who left India in 2016 and is currently based in Malaysia, has faced allegations of promoting religious extremism through his speeches. The IRF has also been under scrutiny over its alleged links to radical activities.