ISLAMABAD, Aug 10: A rare English-language message claimed to be from Al Qaeda’s second-in-command, Ayman Al Zawahri, aired on Sunday said Pakistan was being “virtually ruled from the American embassy”.

ARY TV channel gave a copy of the tape, whose authenticity could not immediately be verified, to The Associated Press.

It is not clear when the tape was made, but it includes apparently recent pictures of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and others in the ruling coalition, indicating it was created after the February election.

In the tape, Al Zawahri lists a litany of charges against President Musharraf, including that of “betraying Muslims by supporting the US” after the Sept 11, 2001 attacks.

“Pervez (Musharraf) 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.”

Al Zawahri also mentions last year’s military siege of Lal Masjid. He also criticised Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.

He urged Pakistanis to “rise up and fight the US or at least support the insurgents”.

Faizullah Khan, a reporter for the channel, claimed that the tape had been delivered by a man on a motorbike.

The tape also includes clips of President Musharraf’s interviews and other video segments, including footages of his speeches.

Ben Venzke – the head of IntelCenter, a US group that monitors and analyses militant messages – said it was “the first official message released by Al Sahab in which the Egyptian-born Al Zawahri speaks English”.

He apologises for speaking “the language of the Muslims’ enemies” but notes he does not speak the ‘charming’ Urdu language and that most Pakistanis do not know Arabic.—AP