Bangladesh has continued to go tough on controversial Indian televangelist Zakir Naik as its has banned Peace Mobile phones, days after removing his TV channel from the airwaves and online.
On Wednesday, telecoms regulator BTRC Chairman Shahjahan Mahmood told bdnews24.com, “These phones cannot be allowed anymore because there’s a clear instruction from the government to stop all kinds of publicity of Zakir Naik.”
Naik earned the wrath of Bangladesh after his speeches were found to have inspired terrorists involved in the July 1 Gulshan massacre.
Beximco Group imports Naik’s Peace mobile.
Marketed as” Islamic mobile handsets”, the website of the brand says that the phone comes loaded with options to access Zakir Naik’s Peace TV sermons in English, Hindi and Urdu.
They also come packed with Islamic wallpapers, access to the Quran and reminders about prayer timings etc.
The website also mentions the name of Beximo Group as the sole Bangladesh importer and the address of the group office as Dhanmondi Bell Tower, Dhaka.
Attempts to reach group Vice Chairman Salman F Rahman via calls or text message on his mobile phone has yielded no response.
A senior official with BTRC said Beximco had imported about 500 mobile phones in 2014 but none since then, although it had applied for the renewal of the permit.
Another importer, Noha Enterprise is also known to import the mobile phones. However, they flaunt a different logo.
According to the rules, the BTRC permission is mandatory before a mobile handset brand is allowed to operate in Bangladesh.
The BTRC is to be furnished with samples of the set before the International Mobile Equipment (IME) number is allotted and the decks cleared to allow spectrum access.
At least two terrorists involved in the Gulshan attack are known to have been inspired by Naik’s speeches and sermons, prompting the government to clamp down on his publicity mechanisms in the country.