Pakistan-based terror organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed has turned to online classes — launching a module for women to undertake the ‘jihadi’ lifestyle. The course will be taught by Sadiya Azhar and Samaira Azhar (the sisters of JeM chief Masood Azhar) and participants are urged to ‘donate’ PKR 500 for the training. The initiative is part of an extensive drive to “indoctrinate and recruit” candidates for its newly formed Jamat ul-Muminat female brigade.
According to multiple reports, the online training module (called Tufat al-Muminat) will begin holding ‘classes’ from November 8. Women family members of Jaish leaders will teach others about their ‘duties’ in the context of jihad and Islam during the 40 minute sessions. Sources also told NDTV that the lecture series will be led by the two sisters of Masood Azhar — “encouraging” women to join the Jamat ul-Muminat led by Sadiya Azhar.
Each woman enrolling in the course will aid fundraising efforts — contributing PKR 500 and submitting personal details through an online form. A Hindustan Times report added that the recruitment drive would focus on the wives of JeM commanders and economically vulnerable women studying at its centres in Bahawalpur, Karachi, Muzaffarabad, Kotli, Haripur, and Mansehra. The online component was reportedly introduced to circumvent strict social norms in Pakistan that consider it improper for women to go out alone.
Operation Sindoor link
Several key ‘teachers’ in this initiative are the spouses of terrorists slain during Operation Sindoor. Airstrikes launched by India had decimated Markaz Subhan Allah in Bahawalpur (the operation headquarters of JeM) and killed several members of the Azhar family. Sources told ANI in May that Mohammad Yusuf Azhar and Hafiz Muhammed Jameel — the brothers-in-law of Masood Azhar — were among those killed during the attack. Newly appointed Jamat ul-Muminat leader Sadiya Azhar is the widow of late JeM commander Mohammad Yusuf Azhar.
Reports indicate that other members of the leadership council 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.