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A new tape purportedly recorded by al-Qaeda terror network's number two, Ayman al-Zawahri, called on the Pakistanis to overthrow their government, the Arabic satellite channel Al-Jazeera reported Thursday.
"Every Muslim in Pakistan should make his effort to overthrow the puppet government that will submit to the United States until it destroys Pakistan," the speaker said on the tape, broadcast by the Qatar-based TV channel.
The authenticity of the tape has not been independently verified, but the speaker's voice sounded like previous recordings of al-Zawahri, who is accused by US officials of playing a key role in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in New York and Washington.
The speaker also called on the Pakistani military to stop its ongoing operations against militants in South Waziristan, a Pakistani tribal area bordering Afghanistan, saying the crackdown is against Islamic law.
"Every soldier who finds this act to be legitimate is an infidel, according to Islamic law," he said.
Pakistan, a key US ally in its global war on terror, has been carrying out a stepped-up campaign since March 16 to root out al-Qaeda fighters on its Afghan border.
More than 140 suspects have been captured so far in the military campaign, the Pakistani army's Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) said earlier Thursday.
(Xinhua News Agency March 26, 2004)
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