Jaish launches online ‘jihadi course’ to recruit women; Masood Azhar’s sisters, Pulwama bomber’s wife to lead training

Pakistan-based scourge rig Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) has launched an online trend ‘Tufat al-Muminat’ as component part of its efforts to spread out recruitment and raise funds for its newly formed women’s wing, Jamat ul-Muminat, people familiar with the matter said.

According to the people cited above, the online course aims to “indoctrinate and recruit” women into JeM’s female brigade through religious and jihad-oriented lessons. The 40-minute daily sessions, scheduled to begin on November 8, will be conducted via online platforms by JeM chief Masood Azhar’s sisters, Sadiya Azhar and Samaira Azhar. Each participant is being asked to contribute ₹500 (500 Pakistani rupees) as a “donation", they added.

“Under this initiative, women family members of JeM leaders, including relatives of Masood Azhar and other commanders, will teach participants about their duties from the perspective of jihad and Islam,” one of the officials said.

The development comes weeks after Azhar, a UN-designated terrorist, announced the formation of the women’s wing Jamat ul-Muminat on October 8 at Markaz Usman-o-Ali in Bahawalpur. On October 19, the group also held an event in Rawalkot, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, called Dukhtaran-e-Islam to mobilise women for the new unit.

The sources said that given Pakistan’s conservative social norms, which often restrict women’s movement, the JeM has shifted to online platforms to recruit them. The idea is to build a women’s force modelled after the ISIS, Hamas, and LTTE, possibly even for fedayeen or suicide missions, the sources said.

The ₹500 course fee, sources said, also exposes how Pakistan-based terror groups continue to raise funds under new guises despite Islamabad’s claim of adhering to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) norms.

Masood Azhar has appointed his younger sister, Sadiya Azhar, whose husband, JeM commander Yusuf Azhar, was killed during India’s Operation Sindoor, to lead Jamat ul-Muminat.

Other members of the leadership council reportedly include his sister Safia and Afreera Farooq, the wife of Pulwama attack conspirator Umar Farooq, who was killed in an encounter with Indian security forces.

People tracking JeM’s activities said the group is focusing recruitment efforts on the wives of its commanders and on economically vulnerable women studying at its centres in Bahawalpur, Karachi, Muzaffarabad, Kotli, Haripur, and Mansehra.

“After Operation Sindoor and the Pahalgam attack, JeM’s leadership realised that female members could be used to evade security scrutiny and carry out logistics or propaganda operations. This course is part of that strategy,” a senior counter-terror official said.

Traditionally, JeM, a Deobandi-rooted outfit, had prohibited women from taking part in armed jihad. However, intelligence assessments suggest that Masood Azhar and his brother, Talha al-Saif, recently approved their inclusion in the organisation’s operational framework.

The move mirrors tactics used by groups such as ISIS, Boko Haram, Hamas, and LTTE, all of which have deployed female combatants or suicide bombers in the past.

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