ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan's beleaguered President Pervez Musharraf, a U.S. ally, on Monday received a direct violent threat from al-Qaida while his political opponents convened parliament to begin impeachment proceedings against him.
In a video, al-Qaida's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahri, called for an uprising not only against Musharraf but also against the Pakistani state, which he said was "virtually ruled from the American Embassy." He spoke in English for the first time in a recording.
The video came as Pakistan's elected parliament met for a special session for impeachment proceedings. The government is still preparing its "charge sheet" against the president, but militant Islamic anger at him was obvious in al-Qaida's video.
"Pervez has insulted and compromised Pakistan's sovereignty by allowing the CIA and FBI to operate freely in Pakistan and arrest, interrogate, torture, deport and detain any person, whether Pakistani or not, for as long as they like, thus turning the Pakistani army and security agencies into hunting dogs in the contemporary crusade," said al-Zawahri, an Egyptian who is considered the terrorist group's chief ideologue.
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Al-Zawahri denounced Musharraf in particular for his crackdown last year on Islamabad's radical Red Mosque — an army raid that resulted in some 100 deaths — and his treatment of renegade Pakistani nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan, who has been under house arrest for four years. Although al-Qaida has little support in Pakistan, al-Zawahri picked two grievances that have widespread appeal in the country.
The extremist vitriol against Musharraf, a former army chief who celebrated his 65th birthday Monday, demonstrated how dangerous it would be for him to remain in Pakistan after leaving office. Currently, he has massive security, and has survived several assassination attempts by Islamic militants. There's speculation that he'll be offered refuge in the U.S., where his son Bilal lives, or in Turkey, where he spent his childhood.
Under Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 military coup, Pakistan allied itself with Washington against al-Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. However, the Pakistanis have been reluctant warriors at best against Islamic extremists, who have found a haven along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan.
The authenticity of the recording, delivered over the weekend, couldn't be verified, though experts said it sounded like al-Zawahri's voice.
Al-Qaida's message was much broader than an attack on Musharraf, with the group calling for jihad against the Pakistani state, including the current government, and especially the military.
So far, Musharraf shows no signs of resigning, as many had predicted after the coalition government, which came to power after elections in February, announced last week that it would move to impeach him.
Parliament needs a two-thirds majority to convict him, and the numbers look close if members vote along party lines. Some coalition members suggested Monday that their campaign wouldn't stop at impeachment; treason charges, which are being threatened, carry the death penalty.
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