RASC News Agency: Indian Muslim preacher and televangelist Zakir Naik has posted a photograph of himself alongside Abdul Haq Wasiq, the head of Taliban intelligence, on the social media platform X. However, Naik has not provided any details regarding the context of their meeting, leaving both the time and location of the photograph unknown. Abdul Haq Wasiq is a prominent figure within the Taliban who previously held a key position in the group’s intelligence apparatus during their first regime. Following the 9/11 attacks, he was captured by U.S. forces and spent over a decade imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay. In 2020, as part of the U.S.-Taliban prisoner exchange agreement, he was released alongside other senior Taliban officials. After the Taliban seized power in 2021, he was appointed as the director of the regime’s intelligence agency. Under his leadership, Taliban intelligence has been widely regarded as one of the most oppressive, feared, and brutal institutions in Afghanistan’s history.
Since the Taliban’s return to power, the regime has been accused of orchestrating targeted assassinations, carrying out extrajudicial executions, engaging in systematic torture of detainees, and eliminating political and religious opponents. Reports indicate that Taliban forces have executed dissidents without trial and subjected perceived adversaries to brutal persecution, with the intelligence agency playing a central role in these atrocities. Beyond political repression, the Taliban has imposed draconian restrictions on women’s rights, barring girls from education and systematically erasing women from public life. Additionally, reports suggest that the intelligence agency has been involved in ethnically motivated persecution, including targeted violence against non-Pashtun communities.
Zakir Naik himself remains a highly controversial and polarizing figure. He has been accused of promoting religious extremism and supporting radical organizations, leading the Indian government to revoke his passport. Facing charges of money laundering and inciting religious hatred, he is currently living in self-imposed exile in Malaysia. Notably, in his social media post, Naik made no reference to the Taliban intelligence agency’s record of human rights violations or its role in widespread repression.
