An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan has sentenced three activists of the Masood Azhar-led Jaish-e-Mohammad for five years each in jail for arranging funds for the proscribed terror outfit amid pressure from the global community to rein in militant groups.

The Anti-Terrorism Court found the trio guilty in three separate cases on Friday after funds collected for the militant outfit were recovered from them. They were sent to central prison in Gujranwala in Punjab province.

The convicts M Iftikhar, Muhammad Ajmal and Bilal were also fined Rs 45,000, Rs 50,000 and Rs 40,000 respectively besides the sentence.

Pakistan launched a crackdown against supporters of militant outfits after pressure from the international community to stop support to the militant groups.

On Monday, three terrorists belonging to the Islamic State and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militant groups were arrested by the CTD officials in Pakistan’s Punjab province.

According to Punjab CTD spokesperson, the investigations and prosecutions “are being followed to stop proscribed organisations from indulging in terror financing.” The spokesperson warned these organisations and their leaders to desist from such acts or action would be taken against them.

Last week, six activists of the JeM and the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) were arrested by the CTD from Gujranwala, Rawalpinid, Multan and Lahore for allegedly collecting funds to finance terrorism.

Paris-based international terror financing watchdog FATF in June last year placed Pakistan onto its watch list in a bid to push the country to halt support for militant groups.

In February, the FATF decided to continue the ‘Grey’ listing of Pakistan for its failure to stop funding of terrorist groups such as the JeM, the Lashkar-e-Taiba and the JuD.