India has the capability of taking care of its territorial integrity and sovereignty and there is no need to take seriously the threats on Kashmir by al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri, the External Affairs Ministry said Thursday.
In a video, Zawahiri, who took over the reins of alQaeda after the death of Osama bin Laden, said, “I am of the view that theMujahideen in Kashmir — at this stage at least — should focus with single mindon inflicting unrelenting blows on the Indian Army and government so as tobleed the Indian economy and make India suffer sustained losses in manpower andequipment.”
Reacting to it, MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar saidIndia’s security forces are capable and equipped to protect the country’sterritorial integrity and sovereignty.
“We keep hearing of such threats and it is notthe first time that we received such a threat. I don’t think we need to take itseriously,” Kumar said in response to a question.
“Al Qaeda is a UN-prescribed terrororganisation and their leader is UN-designated terrorist. Our security forcesare capable and equipped…Not to worry about these threats. They have thecapability of taking care of our territorial integrity and sovereignty,”he said.
The video was posted on ‘As-Sahab’ channel, anin-house production of al Qaeda used to relay the organisation’s views to theworld, also asked the militants “to establish stronger channels ofcommunication with their Muslim brethren all over the world”.
Zawahiri hails from Egypt and the US has announceda reward of USD 25 million for information leading to his arrest or death.
The al Qaeda chief also warned the militants not tofall into the trap of Pakistan, which he termed as a puppet of the US.