Al Qaeda Calls for ‘Unrelenting Blows’ on the Indian Army in Kashmir

The terror outfit’s chief Ayman Al-Zawahiri also said the fight in Kashmir was part of the global Muslim community’s “jihad against a vast array of forces”.

For the first time in the history of India, terrorist outfit Al-Qaeda has called for terror attacks in the state of Kashmir. In a terrifying clip called ‘Don’t Forget Kashmir’ that released on July 10, the organisation’s new chief Ayman al-Zawahiri asked his forces to inflict “unrelenting blows” on the Indian army and the government of body in Kashmir in order to “bleed” the economy dry and make the country suffer.

The video was released by Al-Qaeda’s in-house production channel As-Sahad. This is the first time that the organisation, which was also responsible for the 9/11 terror attacks in New York, has specifically instructed for action in Kashmir, something the government officials feel is a desperate attempt to fight back against the recently improved situation in the Kashmir Valley.

Speaking in Arabic in the video, Zawahiri made no mention of Zakir Musa, the founder of the Indian cell of the Al-Qaeda, who was killed by security forces in Kashmir in May. But Musa’s photo showed up on the screen as the new chief spoke about Kashmir. In his 14-minute speech, Zawahiri stressed that the “fight in Kashmir” was not a separate conflict, but was part of the global Muslim community’s “jihad against a vast array of forces”, and called upon “unnamed” scholars to propagate this ideology. While confirming Pakistan’s involvement in setting off cross-border conflict, Zawahiri also said that “Pakistan’s conflict with India is essentially a secular rivalry over borders managed by the American intelligence.”

Calling Pakistan’s intelligence agencies as America’s primary tool in Pakistan, he also warned about their involvement in trying to prevent the Mujahideen forces from achieving their agenda. He also believes these agencies are trying to keep these forces under authoritative control and use them as a political leverage.

Zawahiri hails from Egypt and took over as the Al-Qaeda chief after the death of Osama Bin Laden in 2011. There is currently a bounty of $25 million on him and many believe this video is a way for him to counter the Indian government’s recent claims of reduction of infiltration in the conflict-ridden state of Kashmir. According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, infiltration in the India-Pakistan border has reduced by 43 percent in 2018, while recruitment of local Kashmiris by terror groups is down by 40 percent and the number of terrorists killed in this conflict region has gone up by 22 percent.