Al-Qaida calls for war against Pakistan

Al Qaeda to Pakistanis: Join The Jihad
By Jeffrey Imm

Al Qaeda's Dr. Ayman Al-Zawahiri issued a new videotape on Wednesday titled "The Aggression against Lal Masjid".

This message is focused on the clashes between the Pakistan Army and
Islamic students at the Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) in Pakistan, in which
Al-Zawahiri calls upon Pakistani Muslims to rise up and take revenge
against the Pakistani Army and the Pakistani government for their
actions against the Lal Masjid mosque. Al-Zawahiri stated: "Muslims of Pakistan: your salvation is only through Jihad".

This 4 minute, 24 second address is the third in seven days, and the 10th this year by Al-Zawahiri.

The video is available on Laura Mansfield's web site.

Associated Press, Laura Mansfield, and SITE Institute have reported translations of this new Al-Zawahiri message.

Al-Zawahiri says of the Lal Masjid clashes: "I
talk to you today on the occasion of the criminal aggression carried
out by Musharraf, his army and his security organs - the Crusaders'
hunting dogs - against Lal Masjid in Islamabad, and on the occasion of
the dirty, despicable crime committed by Pakistani military
intelligence - at the orders of Musharraf - against Maulana Abdul Aziz
Ghazi when it showed him on television in women's dress. This is a
message of blinding clarity to the Muslims in Pakistan, the Pakistani
Ulema, and indeed, the Ulema in the rest of the Islamic world, and this
crime can only be washed away by repentance or blood. I call on the
Ulema in Pakistan and tell them: this is what you are worth to
Musharraf, and this is the treatment that awaits you in the prisons of
Musharraf's hunting dogs, and this is what you are worth to the
Crusaders... Musharraf won't spare any of you, and won't stop until he
eradicates Islam from Pakistan".

Al-Zawahiri tells Pakistanis that "demanding
that he [Pakistan President Musharraf] adhere to Islam and refrain from
worshiping the Crusaders and Jews will only get you the worst types of
contempt, humiliation and degradation", and that "this is your fate if you are silent and prefer the life of this world to the hereafter."

Al-Zawahiri calls Pakistanis to take action: "Muslims of Pakistan: your salvation is only through Jihad."

Furthermore, Al-Zawahiri calls Pakistanis to also back Jihad in Afghanistan: "so
you must now back the Mujahideen in Afghanistan with your persons,
wealth, opinion and expertise, because the Jihad in Afghanistan is the
door to salvation for Afghanistan, Pakistan and the rest of the region.
Die honorably in the fields of Jihad, and don't live like women with
moustaches and beards. Aren't there any honorable ones in Pakistan?
Aren't there any jealous ones? Isn't there anyone who prefers the
hereafter to the life of this world? O you who believe! What is the
matter with you, that, when you are asked to go forth in the cause of
Allah, you cling heavily to the earth? Do you prefer the life of this
world to the hereafter?"

This new Al-Zawahiri message comes on the heels of report by Reuters on intelligence
analysts appearing before the U.S. House of Representatives Armed
Services Committee stating that Al Qaeda remains entrenched in Pakistan, and an AP report that 106 had been killed in the Pakistani Army's "Operation Silence" clash with the Lal Masjid Jihadists.

Prior to the final completion of the Pakistani Army "Operation
Silence" in Lal Masjid, the Pakistan Daily Times reported a survey of
Pakistanis critical of one of the clerics who attempted to flee the
battle. Some of the comments included: "He should have fought till the end and died to prove what he did was right" from a Pakistan banker, and "Had the Maulana been sincere he would have preferred death to earn a name and not have run like he did" from a Pakistani grocer.

Sources:

AP: Al-Qaida: Wage holy war against Pakistan

ABC: Al Qaeda Leader on the Web Again -- Instant Messaging Next?

Laura Mansfield: Yet another message from Zawahiri: Aggression Against Lal Masjid

Video of Al-Zawahiri Message

SITE
Institute: “The Aggression Against Lal Masjid [Red Mosque]” – An Audio
Speech by Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri Produced by as-Sahab Media

Reuters: Al Qaeda entrenched in Pakistan, U.S. officials say

AP: 106 dead at Red Mosque; militants cleared

London Times: Hundreds feared killed in mosque siege

Pakistan Daily Times: People resent Lal Masjid cleric’s attempt to flee in burqa

July 11, 2007 07:30 PM   Link