Al Qaeda’s Pakistan chief is alive

By Tariq Habib

KARACHI: The CIA’s claim about killing Ustad Ahmed Farooq, head of al Qaeda in Pakistan, proved false when he appeared in a video tape and vowed to avenge the killing of Osama Bin Laden. Farooq was earlier declared killed in a US drone strike in South Waziristan on June 3.



Pakistan Today received a video tape released by As-Sahab, the media wing of Al Qaeda Pakistan, containing a message from Farooq to his followers. The video contains dozens of images of Osama Bin Laden. In the video, Farooq blames the Pakistani government and law enforcement agencies for betraying the jihadi groups for the sake of money. “Pakistani agencies betrayed Muslims and jihadis by arresting and killing the mainstream leadership of the Taliban and its allies,” he said in the video.

Farooq also noted that Pakistan had arrested Afghan Taliban leaders Mullah Abdus Salam Zaeef, Ustad Yasir, Mullah Abdul Lateef Hakeemi, Mullah Baradar and Mullah Mansour Dadullah, “along with numerous other officials of jihadi movements”.

“We should realise that the system cannot be made better by replacing some people, it can be made better by replacing it with Islamic system,” he said.

At the end of the videotape, Farooq apologised to Ayman Al Zawahiri for being unable to stop the Pakistani military from arresting and killing their companions. “We will purify this land where all mujahideen and emigrants, Arabs and non-Arabs, will walk freely on the streets of Islamabad, fearing none other than Allah,” Farooq said.

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