ISLAMABAD, March 26: Pakistan's military on Friday scoffed at a message purportedly from Al Qaeda calling for the overthrow of President Pervez Musharraf, describing it as absurd.

Arabic television channel Al Jazeera broadcast an audiotaped message late on Thursday purportedly from the network's number two, Ayman Al Zawahiri, urging Pakistan's army to rise up against Gen Musharraf.

"Pakistan's military does not get orders from him (Al Zawahiri) so it is absolutely absurd," military spokesman Maj-Gen Shaukat Sultan said. The tape, which was not immediately independently verified, calls on the Pakistani military "to not obey orders" and overthrow President Musharraf.

"I call on the Pakistani army, the poor army that was put in a miserable state by Musharraf, the Indians are in front of you and behind you in Afghanistan," the voice on the tape says.

"Musharraf has disposed of your nuclear arms. Are you going to remain silent until the partition of Pakistan once again?" it says. Foreign office spokesman Masood Khan rejected the threat to President Musharraf and said that the people of the country fully supported the government's efforts to root out terrorism and extremism.

He said in an interview that Pakistan would not waver in its fight against terrorism because the people and the government of Pakistan stood committed to eradicating the menace. The spokesman said that the authenticity of the tape was still to be verified. "However, we dismiss the cowardly threat."

He said such threats had been issued in the past as well, but had no effect or appeal. He emphatically rejected the allegations levelled against the president and the armed forces.

The spokesman said that the Islamic world would have no support for individuals who advocated such extremist policies and tarnished the image of Islam.

In Washington a US official said that the CIA had concluded that the Al Zawahiri audio tape was probably authentic. "After we did the technical analysis, we assessed that the voice on the tape is likely Zawahiri," the official said. CIA analysts drew no conclusions from the tape about when it was made, the official said. -Agencies