Al-Qaeda No 2 warns Pakistanis of 'painful punishment'

Warning Pakistani people that they face “painful punishment” from God if they failed to back the militants to check the “grave” threat to their country from the US, al-Qaeda’s second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri said “sincere” Muslims have a duty to support the jihad.

Warning Pakistani people that they face “painful punishment” from God if they failed to back the militants to check the “grave” threat to their country from the US, al-Qaeda’s second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri on Wednesday said “sincere” Muslims have a duty to support the jihad.

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“I believe that every honest and sincere Muslim in Pakistan should seriously contemplate ... Pakistan’s present state and expected future, because the blatant American crusader interference in Pakistan’s affairs ... has reached to such an extent that it now poses a grave danger to Pakistan’s future and very existence,” al-Zawahiri said in the message, which was released on radical Islamist Web sites.

Zawahiri warned Muslims that they have a religious duty to support the jihad, or holy war.

“If we stand by passively without offering due support to the mujahedeen, we shall not only contribute to the destruction of Pakistan and Afghanistan, but we shall also deserve the painful punishment of almighty God,” he said.

Al-Zawahri, who had addressed the Pakistani people in English in August last year, said Pakistan is actually ruled by the United States.