In new video, Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahiri wades into Karnataka hijab row | India News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Global terrorist group Al Qaeda on Tuesday waded into Karnataka’s hijab row, with its elusive leader Ayman al-Zawahiri exhorting Indian Muslims to react to “this oppression”.
In a nine-minute video, released by Qaida’s official Shabab media and verified by the SITE intelligence group, Zawahiri, who took over Qaeda’s leadership from Osama bin Laden, praised Muskan Khan, the college student from Karnataka who had taken on a group of students objecting to her being in a burqa, and countered their “Jai Shri Ram” slogans by shouting “Allahu Akbar”.
In the video titled and accompanied by a poster that read, “The Noble Woman of India”, Zawahiri is seen reciting a poem he composed to praise Khan. The jehadi veteran said he came to know about Khan from videos and social media and was so moved by the act of “a sister” and by her raising “cries of Takbeer” that he decided to write a poem in praise of her.

After reading the poem, the Zawahiri attacked countries which have banned hijab, along with Pakistan and Bangladesh, whom he accused of being “allies of the West”.
This is the first video of Zawahiri since November and shows that one of the “most wanted” jehadi terrorists is not just alive but, as his references to Muskan Khan suggest, is actively engaged with contemporary affairs.
In 2020, Zawahiri was reported to have died of natural causes but months later an undated video surfaced suggesting he was alive. He is supposedly located somewhere in Afghanistan, sources say.
In his November 2021 video, Zawahiri had criticised the United Nations for being hostile to Islam and warned Islamic nations about the threats which the UN posed.