The government has decided to stop airing Peace TV in Bangladesh.
Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu made the announcement at a press briefing after a cabinet committee meeting on law and order on Sunday.
Controversial Indian Islamic televangelist Zakir Naik launched the English version of Peace TV in 2006. An Urdu version was launched in 2009, followed by a Bangla version in 2011.
Naik, a
doctor-turned-preacher, came under spotlight again after it emerged that at least one of the terrorists who
killed 20 hostages including foreigners at Holey Artisan Bakery in Gulshan, Dhaka on July 1 drew inspiration from his speeches.
Naik
denies encouraging acts of terror through his speeches although he has courted controversies in the past with statements like: “If Osama bin Laden is terrorising the US, I am with him… every Muslim should be a terrorist.”
India on Saturday
banned Peace TV which is not licensed in India and is uplinked from Dubai. The channel claims to have a hundred million strong viewership but little is known about its funding.
Last week, the state government of Maharastra, India ordered
investigation into Naik's speeches, which have been dubbed “highly objectionable” by the central government of India.
Naik's lectures mostly revolve around how Islam is superior to all other faiths and are popular in Bangladesh too, where they are run by Peace TV and available on CDs.
Islamic scholars in Bangladesh last year demanded
banning Peace TV, saying it was misleading Muslims.
In a series of fatwas or edicts, India's influential Darul Uloom Deoband asked Muslims
not to follow him, reported Hindustan Times.