BN and Pakatan Harapan parties appear divided over controversial Muslim scholar Zakir Naik.

On the BN front, while MIC president Dr S Subramaniam praised inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar for ordering the scholar's forum to be cancelled, Umno Youth vice-chief Khairul Khairul Azwan Harun wanted the ban revoked.

"On behalf of all Malaysians who protested against the visit of Zakir and his organised programmes, I would like to thank the home minister and IGP for having listened to the voice of concerned Malaysians and preventing his entry.

"The established agenda of the likes of Zakir have been foreign and should remain foreign to the Malaysian agenda," said Subramaniam in a media statement.

However, Khairul argued that the police's decision impinged on the principle of religious freedom.

He said the police should not choose the easy option, but instead provide security and ensure public order.

"Umno Youth urges Malaysians to be mature and not be influenced by extremist NGOs that sow fear and hatred until the people can no longer evaluate the good in something," he added.

The Umno Youth leader did not mention the opposition from MIC in his press statement.

Across the political fence, Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy initially branded the Muslim scholar "satan" on Facebook but later deleted the word.

The DAP leader claimed that Zakir wanted to spread hatred towards non-Muslims.

"He is Muslim preacher and evangelist who has nothing but hatred and contempt for non-Muslims.

"He has been banned in Canada and UK for his hate lectures. Even some sections of Muslims in India have termed him as a liar, man of half-truth and purveyor of hate," he said.

Meanwhile, DAP's ally Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) expressed disappointment with the move to ban the lecture.

Its Youth wing chief Sany Hamzan described Zakir as an "internal intellectual" and decried the police's move to clamp down on intellectual discourse.

Earlier today, the police chief tweeted that the organisers have been instructed to call off a forum titled 'Similarities between Islam and Hinduism', which was to be held in Malacca on April 17.

Speaking to Malaysiakini later, Khalid also warned against those making seditious remarks on this issue and emphasised the need to safeguard the sensitivities of people of all faiths.

PAS and Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) also expressed disagreement with the move to cancel the forum.