Masood Azhar's Sisters Lead JeM's New Female Front To Radicalise Women, Expand Reach | Exclusive

Last Updated:October 22, 2025, 13:06 IST

According to intel, the group has rolled out an online programme called “Tufat al-Muminat” and created a parallel organisation referred to as Jamat ul-Muminat or Women’s Brigade

Masood Azhar’s sisters, Sadiya and Samaira Azhar, and the wife of another commander, Afreera Farooq, are in leadership roles. (PTI)

In a development that intelligence agencies describe as a deliberate bid to rejuvenate its ranks, the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) has reportedly launched a female-focused initiative under the leadership of close relatives of its top commanders.

The initiative, sources told CNN-News18, signals a strategic shift for the militant group toward digitally driven, family-rooted recruitment and mobilisation.

According to intelligence inputs, the group has rolled out an online programme called “Tufat al-Muminat" and created a parallel organisation referred to as Jamat ul-Muminat or the Women’s Brigade. Leadership roles in the new structure are said to be assigned to female relatives of JeM’s senior figures, notably Masood Azhar’s sisters, Sadiya and Samaira Azhar, and the wife of another commander, Afreera Farooq. Officials say that vesting authority within the family is designed to confer credibility, ensure loyalty, and preserve ideological control as the group adapts to mounting external pressure.

Security officials characterise the move as an attempt to emulate the gendered mobilisation models used by other militant outfits, most explicitly likened in the briefings to ISIS’s al-Khansaa Brigade, and compared in strategic intent to female cadres previously deployed by LTTE and Hamas. Those officials warn that JeM’s plan is not merely symbolic: women are being framed, in course materials and messaging, as both morally obligated to and spiritually empowered by participation in the organisation’s aims.

The online course reportedly carries an enrolment fee, described by sources as a nominal “500 PKR donation" per participant, which intelligence agencies fear is doubling as a thinly veiled fundraising mechanism. Officials say this tactic serves to mask financial flows on platforms that present themselves as religious education or community webinars, potentially sidestepping scrutiny by international watchdogs such as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

Operational concerns extend beyond fundraising. Briefings to media indicate that the course content frames women’s duties from an “Islamic-jihadi" perspective, and that the programme’s organisers envision female cadres undertaking a range of support roles: logistics, intelligence collection, financial processing, and in extreme scenarios, use as expendable operatives. Counter-terrorism analysts caution that such non-traditional recruitment channels—online, family-mediated, and transnational—could help sustain the organisation even as some senior leaders face health issues or heightened security pressure.

The use of daily online sessions, each reportedly around 40 minutes, is singled out by analysts as evidence of a sophisticated adaptation to digital platforms. Intelligence assessments warn this format lowers barriers to cross-border participation and makes it easier to reach sympathetic audiences in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kashmir and among diaspora communities.

Critics argue the open promotion of JeM-affiliated educational programmes in plain sight reflects either a failure of enforcement or tacit tolerance within parts of Pakistan’s civic ecosystem, a charge that would conflict with Islamabad’s repeated claims of FATF compliance and counterterrorism commitments. The intelligence community’s narrative paints a picture of systemic support structures that have allowed such initiatives to operate and scale—at least until being publicly exposed.

Security experts urge vigilance and call for coordinated responses from digital platforms, financial regulators and regional partners to disrupt nascent networks before they become entrenched. They also underscore the need for transparent investigation into the financing routes highlighted by the reporting and for lawmakers to press for accountability where charitable or educational fronts are abused for extremist purposes.

Manoj Gupta

Group Editor, Investigations & Security Affairs, Network18

Group Editor, Investigations & Security Affairs, Network18

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