New Delhi, March 7 Former Pakistan all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez on Friday posted pictures of meeting fugitive Islamic hate preacher Zakir Naik, who is on a visit to Pakistan.
Taking to X, Hafeez shared pictures of him with Naik and wrote, "Pleasure meeting with Dr Zakir Naik".
Zakir Naik, a controversial religious figure, is wanted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for his involvement in unlawful activities and promoting religious hatred. In 2017, Bangladesh authorities claimed that one of those who attacked a cafe in Dhaka was inspired by Zakir Naik.
The incident had left 22 people dead. Later that year, India's NIA also accused Naik of indulging in unlawful activities and promoting religious hatred.
Since then, Naik has been forced to live in Malaysia, a country that has given him protection and allowed him to operate his organisation, including Dubai-based Peace TV and Mumbai-based non-profit Islamic Research Foundation (IRF).
On the other hand, Hafeez faced a backlash on social media for sharing pictures with India's absconder.
Hafeez recently blamed former Pakistani cricketers for not leaving any legacy behind for the younger generation.
"I am a huge fan of those who played in the 1990s but when it comes to legacy, they left nothing for Pakistan. They didn't win an ICC event - they lost the (World Cups of) 1996, 1999 and 2003. We reached one final (in the 1999 World Cup) and lost that badly. As stars, as players, they were the mega superstars. But then they couldn't inspire us by winning an ICC event," Hafeez had said during a TV show.
"Then came a difficult period that we had to go through and then in 2007 we lost the final (of the T20 World Cup). In 2009 we won under Younis Khan's captaincy and so there was an inspiration for the next generation. Then unfortunately a bad incident happened with Pakistan cricket and we have still not been able to recover from that."
"Then we won the 2017 Champions Trophy, that was a huge source of inspiration. People idolise Babar Azam today and that is because even if he didn't play a big hand in that event, he was there. So that thing about winning ICC events, this the superstars of the 1990s couldn't do, with all due respect to their talents," he added.
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