Pakistan's terror group Jaish launches online ‘jihadi’ course for women. What we know so far

Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed, designated a terrorist organisation by the United Nations, is reportedly setting up a new women’s unit called Jamat ul-Muminat, according to people familiar with the matter.

As reported by NDTV, the group has launched an online training course titled Tufat al-Muminat, aimed at collecting funds and recruiting members.

Women related to senior Jaish leaders, including the sisters of founder Masood Azhar, a UN-designated terrorist, will reportedly lead the sessions, teaching others about their “duties” in relation to jihad and Islam.

Here’s what we know about this controversial recruitment campaign.

Jaish-e-Mohammed launches online ‘jihadi’ course for women. What is it?

Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed has reportedly launched a new unit called Jamat ul-Muminat
to recruit women. The online training course will reportedly teach them about their ‘duties’ in relation to jihad and Islam. The course will be led by senior Jaish leaders, including the sisters of Jaish founder Masood Azhar, a UN-designated terrorist who has been behind many attacks in India

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40 minutes daily lessons, Rs 500 fees

According to sources cited by NDTV, the online course is designed to “indoctrinate and recruit” women into Jaish-e-Mohammed’s new female wing through lessons focused on religion and jihad.

Given Pakistan’s conservative social environment, which limits women’s mobility, the group has reportedly turned to online platforms to carry out its recruitment drive.

The goal, according to sources, is to create a women’s force modelled after organisations like ISIS, Hamas, and the LTTE, potentially even for fedayeen (suicide) missions.

The course, titled Tufat al-Muminat, is set to begin on November 8, with daily 40-minute online sessions led by Masood Azhar’s relatives and his key commanders. Each participant is being asked to pay 500 Pakistani rupees (around INR 156) as a “donation” and fill out an online form to enrol.

Sources told NDTV that the fee collection also shows how Pakistan-based terror outfits continue to generate funds under new identities, despite the country’s claims of following Financial Action Task Force (FATF) guidelines.

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This initiative comes just weeks after Masood Azhar, who masterminded several terrorist attacks in India, announced the formation of Jamat ul-Muminat on October 8 at Markaz Usman-o-Ali in Bahawalpur.

Later, on October 19, the group organised another event called Dukhtaran-e-Islam in Rawalkot, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, to further mobilise women and spread awareness about the new wing.

Also read: How Pakistan's terror machine has shifted to digital wallets as terror watchers track bank accounts

Masood Azhar’s sisters among the ’teachers’

Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar has reportedly appointed his younger sister, Sadiya Azhar, to lead the newly formed women’s unit. Sadiya’s husband, Yusuf Azhar, a senior JeM commander, was killed earlier this year during India’s Operation Sindoor.

Operation Sindoor, carried out in May, targeted the Jaish headquarters in Bahawalpur as part of India’s response to the terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, the previous month. The strike is believed to have killed several members of Azhar’s family and senior operatives of the group.

According to reports, the leadership of Jamat ul-Muminat also includes Azhar’s other sister, Safia, and Afreera Farooq, the wife of Umar Farooq, a key conspirator in the 2019 Pulwama attack who was later killed in an encounter with Indian security forces.

Why Jaish is recruiting women

According to officials monitoring the JeM network, the group is now targeting the wives of its commanders and financially vulnerable women studying at its religious centres in Bahawalpur, Karachi, Muzaffarabad, Kotli, Haripur, and Mansehra.

A senior counter-terror official told NDTV that “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.”

Traditionally, JeM, a Deobandi-rooted organisation, had barred women from engaging in armed jihad. But intelligence reports now suggest that Masood Azhar and his brother Talha al-Saif have given approval for women to be included in the group’s operational setup.

This shift signals a strategic change, mirroring the playbook of organisations such as ISIS, Boko Haram, Hamas, and the LTTE, all of which have previously used female combatants and suicide bombers to further their missions while drawing less suspicion from security forces.

With input from agencies