Islamic preacher Zakir Naik has repeatedly cancelled his Skype interaction in Mumbai with the media, claiming reluctance of the owners of the slated venues to give out spaces for conducting the progra
Islamic preacher Zakir Naik has repeatedly cancelled his Skype interaction in Mumbai with the media, claiming reluctance of the owners of the slated venues to give out spaces for conducting the programme.
The event is now slated to take place at the Banquet Hall opposite Basera Towers in Mazgaon on Friday morning.
Mr Naik was slated to interact with media persons via Skype at a hall in Agripada at about 11 am on Thursday morning. However, the interaction was abruptly called off on Wednesday night, as organisers informed that owners of Mehfil Hall refused to rent out space for the event at the last minute. Aarif Mallik, who is Mr Naik’s spokesperson, said, “The owners of Mehfil Hall at Agripada informed us at about 11.30 pm on Wednesday that they would not be able to rent out the space.”
Mobin Solkar, who Mr is Naik’s advocate, said, “We approached Hotel Taj Mahal, ITC Grand Central and Saahil Hotel for the programme. Even though no formal correspondence took place with these parties, they verbally denied vacancy.”
Mr Solkar said, “This is not even a public talk. We are looking to organise a press meeting, and there are some forces which are preventing us from interacting with the media.”
An interaction with the press was earlier organised at World Trade Centre, Mumbai, on Thursday morning. The organisers claim they had booked the venue for the date. However, the WTC called to cancel the event on Wednesday morning, citing technical glitches, before payment could be made for the booking, they said.
Mr Solkar said, “We had interacted with WTC on email and received a confirmation for the venue, but we had not made the payment. They did not confirm the cancellation on email.” Subsequently, the event was scheduled to take place at Mehfil Hall at Agripada on Thursday morning, before that was cancelled as well.
The event is now slated to take place at the Banquet Hall opposite Basera Towers in Mazgaon on Friday morning.
