Karnataka CM instructs police to ascertain Al Qaeda video's authenticity

Mysuru (Karnataka) [India], April 8 : Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Thursday instructed the top police officials to ascertain the authenticity of a video clip in which Al Qaeda chief Ayman Al Zawahiri praised Muskaan Khan, the girl who confronted a mob which heckled her for wearing hijab earlier this year.
"The forces are at work from the past to create unrest among the people by raking up issues against the state and national rules. The video clip said to be of the Al Qaeda chief, is part of it," Bommai told media persons at Mysuru airport.
Reacting to the leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah's statement that RSS had a role behind the Al Qaeda statement, Bommai said, "There is no logic and basis for his statement. Why is Siddaramaiah agitated if Al Qaeda issues a statement is the basic question that arises?"
Meanwhile, Mohammed Hussain Khan, father of Muskaan Khan reacted to the video by saying that it is not needed.
"I don't know who they are. They said something in Arabic, I don't know what they said. By this (video message) confusion will be created among us. It is not needed at all," he said.
"I don't want appreciation. We are staying here happy. Let us be happy. There is government, there is law, there is the police; they will take a future course of action," Khan added.
During the protests in Karnataka over the Hijab row, Muskaan was heckled by a group of students wearing saffron shawls. The group shouted 'Jai Sri Ram' slogans to which the girl retorted by shouting 'Allah hu Akbar'.
Earlier commenting on the video, BJP OBC Morcha General Secretary Yashpal Suvarna said that the issue was hatched by the anti-social elements and demanded an NIA probe into the matter.
The Karnataka High Court upheld the hijab ban and dismissed various petitions challenging a ban on hijab in education institutions. It said that wearing hijab "is not an essential religious practice of Islam."