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In a video, the Islamic State's Khurasan Province (ISKP) has threatened that its fighters will "very soon" reach Islamabad. It also urges the Pakistani people to rise up against Pakistani politicians and generals who are seen as de factor rulers.[1]
Titled "The Unrestrained Metastasis Within The Body of The Ummah," the 21-minute 25-second video was released on April 24, 2023, by Al-Azaim Foundation, a media outlet linked to ISKP which defines itself as a supporting entity for the Islamic State (ISIS).
Narrated in English with Urdu subtitles, the video describes Pakistan as a cancerous tumor in the body of the Ummah, which has been affecting the lands of other Muslims beyond its borders.
The title screen of the video.
Deceitful Leaders, Growing Crises
The video opens with footage of senior Pakistani political leaders, including Imran Khan, Shahbaz Sharif, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, and Nawaz Sharif during meetings with American and Chinese presidents and Afghan Taliban and Russian leaders, as the narrator describes the metastatic process of cancerous cells, saying that unlike other tumor cells, Pakistan is not affecting the body of the Muslim Ummah independently for foreign elements, in reference to foreign governments involved in Pakistan's economic affairs.
The narrator argues that successive leaders of Pakistan have succeeded in deceiving their people with empty slogans of jihad, adding that the falling rate of Pakistani currency, the soaring inflation rates, and the rock-bottom balance-of-payment crises have created political instability in Pakistan
He further contends that Pakistan, on the verge of default, is currently seeking a major bailout from "evil" and "un-Islamic" lending agencies such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) the World Bank to resolve its balance-of-payment crisis, claiming that the bailout package seeks to destroy Muslims' economies and enslave Pakistan to the lending bodies.
The video shows then U.S. president Donald Trump and then Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan at the World Economic Forum in Davos 2020.
Screenshot from video giving an unverified quotation of John Adams.
The video emphasizes drastic economic measures to pay off debt.
Inciting "Oppressed Muslims" To Rise Up Against Pakistan's "Tyrants"
"How will Allah Almighty change the status of the Muslim Ummah when they have preferred silence at the persecution of their Muslim brothers and sisters by the unbelievers and the apostates?" The narrator asks, adding that the current economic and political crises, unemployment, and insecurity in Pakistan are due to people's abandonment of jihad.
"And how can people expect any better reward than the disasters that they have been going through in Pakistan for gladly accepting the rule of the Tawagheet [tyrants] over them?" the narrator asks.
Emphasizing the effects of natural disasters such as the earthquake in Turkey and Syria and recent floods in Pakistan, the narrator tells the "oppressed Muslims in Pakistan" that if they remain indifferent to their religious obligations and careless about the evil of their earned money, then there will be torment from Allah.
Inciting Muslims to rebel against Pakistan's leaders and their armed forces, the narrator cites a Quran 13:11: "Allah will not change the condition of the people as long as they do not change their status themselves."
Challenging The Pakistan-China Economic Deal: "Your State Will Be Paralyzed in Every Sense"
Threatening to "paralyze" the government completely, the narrator says defiantly: "Our last message for the Tawagheet, the tumor cells of Pakistan: Do not be assured that your dirty business of playing with the wealth and honor of the Muslims will keep going and do not think that you will be deceiving the people with so-called development programs that you have launched with the help of loans you have taken from the kuffar [unbelievers] in exchange for your war against Islam. Never! Your state will be paralyzed in every sense [...] especially in economic terms."
Moreover, the narrator warns against the undesirable repercussions of "usury-based" systems on economies tied to China as their main lender, noting that the latter holds over $30 billion worth of Pakistan's overall debt and warns that resuming deals with the "Communist" regime of China will result in a repeat of the economic scenario of Sri Lanka, which was completely mortgaged to Chinese lenders.
The video shows footage of the inauguration ceremony of the launch of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
ISKP Threatens To Disrupt Multi-Billion-Dollar Projects, Attack Sheraton Hotel In Islamabad, Police Station
The video threatens Pakistan, saying that their billions of dollars worth of projects are within ISKP's reach and its suicide bombers can destroy and foil these projects. The video shows attacks by ISKP fighters against Pakistani security forces in undisclosed areas.
After a display of archival footage of ISIS fighters and scenes of combat, the video plays a well-known statement by ISIS's slain spokesman Abu Muhammad Al-'Adnani in which he threatens eternal war against West and regional allies: "Do you think we will leave? Do you think that we will be eliminated? Do you think that we will get tired and shun [jihad]? Never! We will stay with the order of Allah till [the end]."
ISKP fighters issuing a statement.
A quote from an archival address by slain ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi.
The video concludes with shots of a police station and the Sheraton Hotel in Islamabad, along with on-screen text: "Very Soon," implying impending terrorist attacks in Pakistan's capital city.
[1] April 24, 2023.
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