The emir of al-Qaeda in the Subcontinent (AQIS) has exhorted terror cells and sympathisers to wage jihad against India, target Hindus in general and Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and Indian Police Service (IPS) officers in particular.

In an audiotape accessed by India Today TV, the Pakistan-based Maulana Asim Umar -- born in Sambhal, UP -- calls for lone-wolf attacks on Indian officers, claiming that they "force Muslims to deposit their arms and ammunition during riots". The Delhi Police, on Monday, issued a circular asking top IPS and IAS officers to be careful.

In the audio, Umar also asks terror sympathisers to study and emulate terrorists who carried out lone-wolf attacks in Europe. He is caught on tape saying: "These Muslims were born in Europe. But when they realised that jihad is their calling, these men rattled the continent."

Umar, who in 2014 was declared the 'emir' of AQIS by Osama bin Laden's successor Ayman al-Zawahiri, also exhorts minority community youth to wage war against India, drawing a reference to the battle of Panipat, in the 15-minute audiotape.

"Muslims should wage jihad against Hindus because they are targeted for not saying 'victory to Mother India'. Muslims are being forced to convert to Hinduism. Muslims, not Hindus, have always ruled India," he says.

Soon after his being appointed the head of AQIS, Umar started releasing audiotapes trying to instigate members of the minority community in the country. In fact, he released a propaganda video targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the French satire newspaper Charlie Hebdo and the World Bank.

A dozen of AQIS members nabbed by the special cell of the Delhi Police a year ago had revealed that they joined the outfit after being inspired by Umar's speeches. The police had also released photographs of eight more AQIS members, declaring them absconders.

In 2016, the United States designated AQIS as a "foreign terrorist organisation" and called Umar a "specially designated global terrorist". The creation of AQIS in 2014 was announced by as-Sahab, al-Qaeda's official media outlet, in a video posted on social media outlets.

"A new branch of al-Qaeda is established, Qaedat al-Jihad, in the Indian subcontinent - seeking to raise the flag of jihad, return to Islamic rule, and empowering the sharia of Allah across the Indian subcontinent," Zawahiri had said in the video, according to a translation by SITE Intelligence Group.

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