Qaeda warns Pak of 'punishment'

Zawahiri condemns US interference, asks Muslims to fulfil duty of backing jihad

 
“I believe that every honest and sincere Muslim in Pakistan should seriously contemplate ... Pakistan’s present state and expected future, because the blatant American crusader interference in Pakistan’s affairs... has reached to such an extent that it now poses a grave danger to Pakistan’s future and very existence,” al-Zawahiri said in the message, which was released on radical Islamist websites.

Zawahiri warned Muslims that they have a religious duty to support the jihad, or holy war.

“If we stand by passively without offering due support to the mujahideen, we shall not only contribute to the destruction of Pakistan and Afghanistan, but we shall also deserve the painful punishment of almighty God,” he said.

Al-Zawahri, who had addressed the Pakistani people in English in August last year, said Pakistan is actually ruled by the United States.

“The current ruling class in Pakistan is lining up under the cross of the modern Crusade and competing for American bribes. Hence, the actual ruler of Pakistan is the American ambassador, who pays the bribes and issues the orders,” al-Zawahiri said.

‘Jihad only solution’

He said “the only hope to save Pakistan from this disastrous fate is jihad” because the political institutions were either corrupt or are too crippled to bring about any change.
Stressing the need for funds, al-Zawahiri also urged Pakistanis to join the fight and contribute money.

“It is the individual duty of every Muslim in Pakistan to join the mujahideen, or at the very least, to support the jihad in Pakistan and Afghanistan with money,” he said.

Under US pressure, the Pakistani military is fighting Taliban militants in the country’s unruly North West Frontier Province, and US drones have targeted militant leaders.

In Afghanistan, NATO-led forces are battling the Taliban as well. US and British forces recently launched offensives in Helmand province.

This is the seventh message from al-Zawahiri espousing the views of the al-Qaeda terror network in 2009.