Govt hopes to verify authenticity of al-Qaeda message soon

Though the government still unsure of the authenticity of the audiovisual message of al-Qaeda chief Ayman Al-Zawahiri, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam suspects BNP-Jamaat’s hands in it as he finds similarities between the contents of the message and their recent remarks on various issues.
He came up with the remarks at a press briefing at the Foreign Ministry Sunday afternoon, according to a news agency.
Shahriar Alam, however, said they would be able to know whether the audiovisual message is authentic or not, within the next couple of days. “There’s a process to identify the authenticity…but that has also limitation as things are not recognised clearly and comprehensively.”
The State Minister said Bangladesh has developed the capacity to resist such threat. “On the basis of the capacity that Bangladesh has developed, we can say, Bangladesh won’t tolerate such threat.”
Asked whether Bangladesh is being used by al-Qaeda, he ruled out any such possibility saying the network of terrorists has been uprooted in the last five years.
The audiovisual message urged the Muslims in Bangladesh to wage an intifada (popular uprising) to confront the “crusader onslaught against Islam”.