The last few days have seen a propaganda offensive by al-Qaeda central to capitalise on the lacklustre humanitarian response to the floods in Pakistan and the surrounding regions.
Earlier this week, we saw bin-Laden’s second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, railing againt the “treasonous” Pakistani government, that has failed to help those Muslims who are suffering. Cronus Global’s Jarret Brachman, author of the essential Global Jihadism: Theory and Practice, has already covered this quite extensively on his blog.
More recently, al-Qaeda’s American propagandist, Adam Gadahn, has broken his silence over this issue. In the video (see below- link removed by editor), he manages to turn the flood into yet another example of the ineptness of secular governance. These “Criminals in power”, according to Gadahn, are “not there to serve Islam – they are there to serve the Crusader, Zionist and Hindu occupation and subjugation of the Muslim ummah…” Gadahn’s suggestion of a remedy? If you haven’t guessed it already: “supporting your brothers, the sincere and truthful mujahideen of Islam.”
There have also been reports that Osama bin Laden himself has released an audio, via as-Sahab media, addressing the floods, though it has not yet been confirmed to be him.
Sending tents and medicine is necessary, but the catastrophe is bigger and way more than what it being offered in terms of quantity, quality and timing.
We need a big transitional change in the way we act in the relief effort.
Further analysis on this shall wait until we can confirm if this is indeed bin Laden, and get a full translation of the audio.