New Delhi - A top al-Qaeda commander in Afghanistan warned
India in a videotape broadcast Tuesday of 'Mumbai-style strikes' if
it tries to attack Pakistan.
Mustafa Abu al-Yazid said in the video shown on Indian news
channels that Indians suffered 'humiliation' in the November assault
and more was in store if India decided to retaliate against Pakistan.
'India should know that it will have to pay a heavy price if it
attacks Pakistan,' al-Yazid said in the 20-minute video in Arabic
that was received by the BBC in Islamabad. 'The mujahedin will sunder
your armies into the ground like they did to the Russians in
Afghanistan.'
'We will bring mujahedin and suicide attackers from all over the
Muslim world to confront you,' he said. 'We will target your economic
centres and raze them to the ground.'
Al-Yazid had been reported killed in a US drone strike in Pakistan
last year. He is in charge of al-Qaeda's operations in Afghanistan
and is ranked behind number 2 leader Ayman al-Zawahiri and top leader
Osama bin Laden.
Al-Yazid has been linked to a number of terrorist attacks,
including last year's Danish embassy bombings in Pakistan, and had
claimed responsibility for assassinating former Pakistani Prime
Minister Benazir Bhutto.
Relations between India and Pakistan deteriorated after the Mumbai
strikes, which New Delhi said were carried out by the Pakistan-based
militant group Lashkar-e-Toiba.
At least 173 people, including 26 foreign nationals, were killed
in the three-day gun-and-bomb attacks, which began November 26.
Indian leaders have blamed the Inter-Services Intelligence,
Pakistan's spy agency, of involvement in the attacks, and Indian army
chief Deepak Kapoor recently said attacks against terrorist camps in
Pakistan were 'very much feasible.'
In the video, al-Yazid also denounced the ban on militant groups
in Pakistan after the Mumbai attacks and asked the people of Pakistan
to rise up and overthrow the government of President Asif Ali
Zardari, Bhutto's widower.
CNN-IBN quoted al-Qaeda expert Rohan Gunaratna as saying the video
was 'authentic' and credible. Although he doubted al-Qaeda's
capability to carry out attacks in India, Gunaratna said it could
inspire or instigate other terrorist groups to mount attacks.
The time the video has surfaced is significant given that US
President Barack Obama's special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan,
Richard Holbrooke, is in Islamabad and Washington has made it clear
that it wants to root out terrorist safe havens in Pakistan.
Meanwhile, India has criticized the recent Pakistani claim that
the evidence given by New Delhi on the Mumbai attacks was not
substantial.
India's junior foreign minister, Anand Sharma, said those behind
the Mumbai carnage had been identified and Islamabad should act
instead of creating confusion.
New Delhi maintains that the dossier of evidence provided by it
contains concrete and substantial details of how the Pakistani
terrorists came from Karachi by sea to launch the attacks.
Your Talkback on this Story