New Delhi: Despite repeated claims by Pervez Musharraf regime on controlling the 'jihadis', it is business as usual for the banned outfits in Pakistan who are openly collecting funds and distributing literature while their leaders are touring the country for recruitment, media reports said.

On the other hand, Taliban terrorists were using Balochistan as their refuge and preparing "ground for operations in Afghanistan", reports appearing in 'The Friday Times', 'Christian Science Monitor' and 'Daily Times' said.

A Lahore-datelined report in 'The Friday Times' said the jihadi leaders were continuously touring the country and delivering sermons, even as the outfits continued "to publish their journals with impunity and on a regular basis to attract new recruits".

The Pakistani weekly said Maulana Fazlur Rehman Khaleel, chief of the banned Jamait-ul-Ansar, recently visited North West Frontier Province and issued "jihadi sermons" in various mosques and madrasas to evolve "a strategy of operations" in the aftermath of the ban.

The report said while the Jamait-ul-Ansar had cancelled its convention in Islamabad earlier this month, similar programmes in districts and provinces were continuing as scheduled.

"The banned Millat-e-Islamia is now using the Sunni Action Committee platform to continue its activities ... while the Tehrik-e-Islami was using the platform of the International Shia Front much in the same way," it said.

PTI