ISLAMABAD, 21 September 2007 — Pakistan yesterday dismissed a reported declaration of war by Osama Bin Laden against President Pervez Musharraf, vowing that the country’s fight against Al-Qaeda will continue.
“We are already committed to fighting extremists and terrorists — there is no change in our policy,” chief military spokesman Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad told AFP when asked about Bin Laden’s threat.
“If someone is hurling threats at us, that is their view. The whole nation is behind us and the Pakistan Army is a national institution,” Arshad added.
Al-Qaeda leader Bin Laden called on Pakistanis to wage holy war against Musharraf in a new audio message issued yesterday.
Bin Laden declared Al-Qaeda’s intention to retaliate for the blood spilled by “champions of Islam,” in the new recording produced by the terror network’s media arm As-Sahab and monitored by the US-based SITE Intelligence Group.
“It is obligatory on the Muslims in Pakistan to carry out jihad (holy war) and fighting to remove Pervez, his government, his army and those who help him,” said the voice in the tape.
The recording was accompanied by video footage of Bin Laden, including scenes of him firing a machine gun and walking in a mountainous area with his deputy Ayman Al-Zawahiri.
The SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors Islamist websites, said the video footage had been previously released.
In another video released by Al-Qaeda’s media arm, Bin Laden’s number two also warned that Musharraf would be “punished” over the killing of leading rebel cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi in the storming of the Red Mosque in Islamabad in July.
“Let the Pakistan Army know that the killing of Abdul Rashid Ghazi and his students and the demolishing of his masjid and two madrasas (mosque and religious schools) has soaked the history of the Pakistan Army in shame and despicableness which can only be washed away by retaliation against the killers of Abdul Rashid Ghazi and his students,” he said.
