PUTRAJAYA, August 26 — PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang today said that the Islamist party has advised controversial India-born fugitive televangelist Dr Zakir Naik to be cautious when speaking about issues related to national politics.

Abdul Hadi said this in response to MIC expressing its dissatisfaction with PAS’ handling of the recent controversy surrounding Dr Zakir during its 73rd annual general meeting yesterday.

“We have advised Dr Zakir Naik to be careful about political issues of the country because he is a preacher who needs to separate preaching and political responsibilities,” he said during a press conference at the Gagasan Sejahtera supreme council meeting at Zenith Putrajaya here.

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In a report by Malaysiakini, MIC president Tan Sri SA Vigneswaran reportedly said PAS leaders should have advised the Islamic preacher to respect the various races in the country instead of “encouraging him to make things worse.”

Abdul Hadi also reiterated that issues surrounding Dr Zakir had been ‘politicised’ by DAP and maintained that the preacher was not at fault.

“Zakir needs to focus in preaching academically, not politicking,” he said.

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He explained that PAS only played its role in responding to the criticism levelled against Dr Zakir as the issue has been politicised.

“When the issue arose, let us (PAS) handle it because a political party played up the issue, not him.

“He (Dr Zakir) only answers on his own behalf. Preaching must involve the academic comparison of religions,” he said.

Dr Zakir is alleged to have made controversial remarks against Malaysian Hindus and Malaysian Chinese during a talk in Kota Bharu on August 3, prompting calls for him to be deported to India.

In his speech, he allegedly accused Malaysian Hindus of being more loyal to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi instead of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and allegedly said the ethnic Chinese “guests” here, should go back, after calls for him to be deported.

Last week, Inspector-General of police Datuk Sri Abdul Hamid Bador said 515 reports were received over Dr Zakir’s remark with the case was being investigated under Section 504 of the Penal Code.

Abdul Hamid also said Dr Zakir is currently abiding by the police directive not to continue with his series of lectures throughout the country.

Dr Zakir has been wanted by Indian authorities since 2016 for alleged money laundering and inciting extremism through hate speeches.