The alleged Ayman al-Zawahiri tape threatening President General Pervez Musharraf is said to have âseverely rattledâ Pakistani intelligence officials.
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According to the Hong Kong-based online journal Asia Times, Pakistani intelligence circles read the messages as a clear signal for Al Qaeda and its allies to take up arms against the Musharraf government and to help sympathisers of radical Islamic groups in the country. âSince the release of the first tape attacking Musharraf, he has adopted a number of special security arrangements, including the erection of extra barricades around Army House in Rawalpindi, where he lives,â adds the paper
According to the paperâs Pakistan correspondent Syed Saleem Shahzad, âAnd since the first tapeâs release, Al Qaeda has become more active in Pakistan. One of its members, Hadi al-Iraqi, is known to operate in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border areas near North Wazirstan Agency, along with one Amjad Farooqui, a suspect named in the case of slain US journalist Daniel Pearl. Intelligence sources now tell Asia Times Online that Hadi has travelled into Pakistani cities, including Rawalpindi, and lately even as far as Karachi... They add that al-Zawahiriâs exhortation is aimed not at common Pakistanis, but those who have in the past interacted with Al Qaeda, but under the previous Bin Laden orders prohibiting any act of terror on Pakistani soil.â
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The report points out that key Islamic political and jihadi groups have been quick to denounce the tapes, with one of them questioning their authenticity. Intelligence sources also point out that following the arrest or killing of several key Al Qaeda operators in Pakistan, few of its planners remain in the country, apart from Hadi al-Iraqi. The Asif Ramzi group of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has been the prime force behind attacks on Western targets in Pakistan. However, it lacks the terror expertise and the finances to carry out sustained attacks. Sources suggest that those Al Qaeda members still holed up in Pakistan, if they linked with the LJ, would be able to form an effective network to answer Zawahiriâs calls. |