Al Qaeda chief threatens attack in Kashmir, claims Pakistan's role in fuelling cross-border terrorism

Image: Twitter/@LongWarJournal

In a video message released by al Qaeda, the terror outfit’s chief Ayman al-Zawahiri directed the “Mujahideen in Kashmir” to inflict “unrelenting blows” on the Indian Army and the government in Jammu and Kashmir, Foundation for Defence of Democracies’ (FDD’s) Long War Journal has reported.

Zawahiri, in the message titled “Don’t Forget Kashmir”, also mentioned Pakistan’s role in fueling cross border terrorism in the Valley.

In his article for the Long War Journal, Thomas Joscelyn said al Qaeda has been grooming an upstart group to wage jihad against Indian forces in Kashmir.

“I am of the view that the Mujahideen in Kashmir, at this stage, at least should single-mindedly focus on inflicting unrelenting blows on the Indian Army and the government, so as to bleed the Indian economy and make India suffer sustained losses in manpower and equipment,” Zawahiri is seen saying in the video.

Though Zawahiri didn’t explicitly mention Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGH), the terrorist cell of al Qaeda operating in India, an image of Zakir Musa (former Hizbul Mujahideen commander, and founder of AGH) is displayed at the end of the video. Al Qaeda eulogized Musa after he was killed last month.

Joscelyn, in his article, speculated that al Qaeda and the AGH are coordinating their messages, as he drew similarities between Zawahiri’s speech and a recent address by Musa’s successor Abdul Hameed Lelhari (a.k.a. Haroon Abbas).

In the video, Zawahiri said the mujahideen must “liberate the Kashmiri jihad from the clutches of Pakistan’s intelligence agencies,” so that the jihad is “for the sake of Allah” as opposed to a struggle “for the sake of international criminals.”

“After achieving this liberation,” Zawahiri reiterates Lelhari's sentiment, “the Mujahideen must plan their jihad by taking free and independent decisions that are guided by the principles of sharia.”

Zawahiri’s claims are in direct contrast to Pakistan’s consistent denial over their involvement in various terror attacks in India.

Asserting that Pakistan is not trustworthy in their Kashmir’s cause, Zawahiri said, the Pakistani government and Army are “toadies of America” who prevented the “Arab Mujahideen” from “heading to Kashmir after expelling the Russians from Afghanistan.”

“You must clearly state that supporting the jihad in Kashmir, the Philippines, Chechnya, Central Asia, Iraq, Syria, the Arabian Peninsula, Somalia, the Islamic Maghreb and Turkistan is an individual obligation on all Muslims, until sufficient strength is achieved to expel the disbelieving occupier from Muslim lands,” Zawahiri said in the 14-minute long video.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) brushed the threat aside saying "We often get these types of threats. We should not consider such threats to be serious."

"Our security forces are well equipped and capable of maintaining our territorial integrity and sovereignty," MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar added.