Masood Azhar Jaish-e-Mohammed
Masood Azhar Jaish-e-MohammedReuters

Islamist terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) is reportedly openly collecting funds from outside mosques in Karachi to carry out jihadist activities in India and Afghanistan.

According to the Indian Express, the video footage features the terrorist organisation's fund collectors operating with impunity despite JeM being banned in Pakistan.

"Help the mujahideen of the Jaish-e-Muhammad, the mujahideen of Islam, fight jihad in Kashmir against India, and in Afghanistan against the Americans," the daily quoted a man outside a mosque in the Jacob Lines area of Karachi as saying in the footage. The video was shot on Friday night and Saturday.

"Generously donate to the brave young men of the Jaish-e-Muhammad who are fighting for the victory of the name of God and Islam," another man can be heard in the footage as saying, outside the Jamia Uloom-e-Islam seminary, while police officers play silent watchers as JeM's men seek funds from the public.

The Jamia Uloom-e-Islam seminary, also known as the "fountain-head of jihad" has produced several jihadi leaders. Some of them include JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar, Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami head Qari Saifullah Akhtar, and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen leader Fazl-ur-Rehman Khalil. Uttar Pradesh-born chief of Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) Sami-ul-Haq was also a student of the seminary. Indian intelligence agencies believe that he is operating out of Karachi. Haq uses the pseudonym Asim Umar and was declared a terrorist by the United States last week, as reported by the IE.

Haq posted a message online on Friday on the occasion of Eid calling on Indian Muslims to "pick up their daggers, and start attacking the Indian Administrative Service and Indian Police Service officers who protect Hindus during communal riots... When your daggers reach the necks of the Hindus who now call for your blood, you see how their words change."

Sartaj Aziz, foreign policy adviser to Pakistan's prime minister, had reportedly said that one of the attackers of the Indian Air Force base attack in Pathankot in January made calls that were traced to JeM's Bahawalpur headquarters.

The JeM has been quite active in Kashmir for the past few months with the terrorist group looking to expand its footprints in the hills around Srinagar and northern Kashmir, the IE quoted Indian security sources as saying.