Dubai: In a new audiotape released by terror mastermind Osama bin Laden's group, the al-Qaida has appealed to Pakistani soldiers to "topple" President Pervez Musharraf or he will "hand over" them to the Hindus.

The tape aired by the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera Arabic TV channel showed bin Laden's principal spokesman, Ayman al Zawahiri telling Pakistani officers and soldiers that the President would "hand you over to the Hindus and flee to enjoy his secret bank accounts" if India attacked their country.

Al-Zawahiri also condemned Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's recent visit to India, saying the agreements signed were "a drop in the ocean of the American-Jewish-Indian alliance against Muslims".

Zawahiri said Musharraf helped the United States to topple the Taleban government in Afghanistan in the October 2001 invasion - support that killed thousands of innocents in the war-torn country.

During the broadcast on September 28, the al-Qaida spokesman also claimed the Pakistani President was seeking to recognise Israel and send troops to Iraq in a bid to gain full American approval.

"Musharraf is seeking to send Pakistani forces to Iraq so that they, rather than American soldiers, are killed and so that they kill Muslims in Iraq and enable America to control Muslim lands," the Al Jazeera tape said.

Zawahiri said in the tape that Washington would not reward Musharraf for his services and cited Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as "a living example" of what happens to "traitors". "He gave Israel and America all that they asked for. But despite this, they are now incarcerating him in his office (in the West Bank town of Ramallah)...and lately decided to expel him."

Although the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has described the recording as "probably authentic", Al Jazeera said it did not know when the tape was recorded.

But the remarks were replete with references to recent events such as Sharon's September visit to India and developments in Iraq and the Palestinian territories.

Al-Zawahiri also said that Osama bin Laden and Taleban's Mulla Muhammad Umar were both alive.

The outburst against Musharraf, observers said, is strikingly similar to attacks on the Pakistani leader in another al-Zawahiri audiotape broadcast on the eve of the second anniversary of 11 September terror attacks on US.

PTI