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On August 14, 2018, Pakistan's Independence Day, Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) spokesman Ustad Usama Mahmood released a 26-minute audio statement titled "Pakistan Is Ours" on a jihadi Telegram channel. It is not clear whether the statement had been released previously.
Speaking in Urdu, Ustad Mahmood raises questions about the identity of Pakistan: To whom does the "real" Pakistan belong? What is the ideology of Pakistan? Who are the guardians of this Pakistan who sacrifice their lives for its independence? Who are those who are bent upon destroying Pakistan for their own gain?
"The real cause of conflicts and atrocities in Pakistan is the rulers and the Pakistani military, the slave of America," Ustad Mahmood says, expressing sadness about the terror attacks in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province. He blames the terror attacks in Pakistan on the intelligence agencies, saying these are planned to defame jihadi groups so that shari'a is not enforced in Pakistan.
He reminds listeners that the purpose of creating Pakistan was the enforcement of Islamic rule in the country in keeping with the dreams of the Islamic scholars who fought against British rule in the undivided India. The AQIS spokesman says that, though Pakistan was created, the system imposed on Pakistan and enforced through the military left by the British rulers is against shari'a.
Describing Pakistan as "America's grazing field," he says: "The law and culture, education and economy, military and police, the entire system is not Islamic..." Ustad Mahmood says: "The Royal Indian Army became the Pakistan Army, but the objectives and principles, education and training, and methods and targets remained the ones given by the infidel Britishers."
"The attack of kufr [unbelief] on Islam did not cease. But the inhabitants of Islam [i.e. jihadi groups] too have not surrendered arms. In these 70 years, the struggle between the Muslim public wanting the real Pakistan of la ilaha illallah [There is no deity but Allah] and the ruling class killing this Pakistan has continued," he says, adding that Islamic scholars and jihadi fighters have been making sacrifices for the "real" Pakistan based on shari'a.
The AQIS spokesman says that jihad fi sabeelillah ("jihad in the path of Allah") is the "real" Pakistan. "The attackers [against the real Pakistan] are the occupier military, the rulers, and their foreign lords," he says, adding that jihadi forces will keep fighting even if they have to sacrifice their lives so that the "real" Pakistan based on Islam will triumph.
Lauding the jihadi leaders of the past, Ustad Mahmood rejects democracy and the territorial definition of the nation, saying: "Muslims worship Allah, not the nation... This war is freedom, a war for freedom from the enemies of Allah, war for the independence of Pakistan. Not only Pakistan, it is a war for the independence of Kashmir, freedom of India [from unbelievers]. This is not merely our war, it is a war of the Muslims of the entire [Indian] subcontinent."
Ustad Mahmood says that when Napoleon won the war in Egypt, he addressed the Egyptian Muslims, beginning by saying: "Bismillahir rahmanir raheem [in the name of Allah, the most merciful]." Mahmood says Napoleon told them that he was "the ansar [supporters] of your Prophet Muhammad, whether you approve of me or disrespect me, but in reality, we are your friends who love Islam, do not reject the hand of friendship."
The jihadi commander says that Napoleon did not speak this way because he loved Muslims or Islam, but because he was seeking to attract Egyptian Muslims. Ustad Mahmood then reminded the Muslims of Pakistan that like Napoleon, "the Pakistan Army too sings the praise of Islam, and the ruling class has also arranged the exhibition of the supremacy of Allah in the constitution."
He goes on to question how much the ruling class loves Islam or Muslims, saying that the Pakistani army is engaged in killing those who are fighting for Islam from Islamabad to the tribal regions of Pakistan. Ustad Mahmood urges Muslims to recognize those who are on the right path, referring to Islamic clerics and jihadi fighters, and reject falsehood.
Source: Telegram.org, August 14, 2018
