Al Qaeda calls for ‘unrelenting blows’ on Indian Army, govt

New Delhi: Launching a scathing attack for the first time on India, dreaded terror outfit Al Qaeda’s chief Ayman al-Zawahari in a video has asked militants in Kashmir to target the Indian Army and the government with “unrelenting blows” while making the country suffer by ensuring that its economy bleeds.

Zawahari, who took charge of the terror outfit following the killing of Osama bin Laden, further said in the video: “I am of the view that the Mujahideen (armed terrorists) in Kashmir — at this stage at least — should focus with single mind on inflicting unrelenting blows on the Indian Army and government so as to bleed the Indian economy and make India suffer sustained losses in manpower and equipment.’’

Intelligence and security sources said they were analysing Zawahari’s video as this was the first time that Al Qaeda had issued a first direct threat to Kashmir and India’s internal security. “Though there is no evidence of Al Qaeda’s presence among terror outfits operating in the Kashmir Valley but still the threat needs to be taken seriously for future security planning in the region. Perhaps one of the reasons for this video to have come out at this stage is that security forces in recent time have had huge success in the Valley and are on the defensive now. So it is possible that Al Qaeda is trying to motivate these terror groups in the Valley through this video and wants various groups to come together,” a senior security official said.

Zawahari’s video is said to have been posted on the “As-Sahab” channel which is managed by Al Qaeda to spread its propaganda. In the video the terrorist also asks militants to further “establish stronger channels of communication with their Muslim brethren all over the world.”

Zawahari is seen speaking in Arabic in the video. Even though he did not mention about Zakir Musa, a militant who was eliminated by security forces in the Valley in May, his picture kept flashing on the screen when Zawahari was talking about Kashmir. Musa was said to be the founder of the Indian cell of the Al Qaeda, called the Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind.

Zawahari also cautioned the militants not to fall into the trap of Pakistan saying it was a US puppet. “The Pakistani Army and government are interested in exploiting the Mujahideen for specific political objectives, only to dump or persecute them later,” he added. Zawahari claimed that Pakistan’s conflict with India was largely a secular rivalry over borders managed by the American intelligence.

He also linked the so called fight in Kashmir with the worldwide Muslim community’s “jihad against a vast array of forces” while calling on “unnamed” scholars to propagate this point. Cautioning Pakistan’s intelligence agencies which he described as America’s primary tool in Pakistan, Zawahari said they will try to prevent the Mujahideen from doing so to ensure that they remain under their control forever as a political bargaining chip.