Zakir Naik | Photo Credit: ANI

Key Highlights The Malaysian Police grilled the controversial preacher for more than 10 hours yesterday Malaysian PM had said that Naik attempted to incite racial tensions in the country with his recent comments Naik said his remarks were "used selectively with fabrications added to them"

Kuala Lumpur: Zakir Naik, the controversial Islamic preacher has issued an apology after being banned from giving speeches in all states in Malaysia.

On Monday, the Malaysian Police grilled the controversial preacher for more than 10 hours in connection with the probe against him for his recent inflammatory comments against the Chinese and Hindu population in the Muslim-majority Southeast Asian country.

Naik, however, said that his remarks were "used selectively with fabrications added to them."

Asserting that his sole mission is to spread peace throughout the world, Naik added, "I do face detractors who try to prevent me from carrying out my mission."

Malaysian authorities initiated a probe against the televangelist last week after several complaints were lodged over his provocative remarks. The controversial televangelist drew huge flak across Malaysia after he made provocative comments against the country’s ethnic Chinese community and Hindus population.

Earlier, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad had said it is “quite clear” that Naik attempted to incite racial tensions in the country with his recent comments against country's non-Muslim population.

“Religious teachers can preach but he was not doing that. He was talking about sending Chinese back to China and Indians back to India. That's politics," Mahathir had reportedly said at a press conference on Sunday.

Commenting on Naik’s permanent residency (PR) status, the Malaysian PM said that the government will await the results of the investigation into the matter and then make a decision whether or not to revoke his PR status.

“He has PR status. We can take that away from him if he does something that is detrimental to the well-being of the nation,” MalayMail quoted Mahathir as saying.

The Islamic preacher, who is wanted in India for hate speech, has been granted permanent residency status by the government of Malaysia.

Earlier, Malaysian Human Resources Minister M Kulasegaran had issued a press release titled 'Zakir Naik's presence in India is embarrassing to all Malaysians' and said the "fugitive foreigner" should be sent back to India to "face terrorism and money laundering charges".

In June, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had made a formal request to the Malaysian government for the extradition of Naik.

“Government of India has made a formal request for the extradition of Zakir Naik. We would continue to pursue the matter with Malaysia,” the MEA responded to the queries regarding the extradition of Naik from Malaysia.