Jaish-e-Mohammed forms women's wing 'Jamaat-ul-Mominaat', appoints Masood Azhar's sister Sadiya as chief: Report

Terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) on Wednesday announced the formation of a women’s wing led by group chief Masood Azhar’s sister, Sadiya Azhar, to contribute to what it calls the “freedom struggle in Kashmir,” The Times of India reported.

The new unit, named Jamaat-ul-Mominaat, will include a dedicated fidayeen squad, with women undergoing extensive training for suicide missions. Sadiya’s husband, Yusuf Azhar, was killed in Indian airstrikes on May 7 during Operation Sindoor on JeM’s Bahawalpur headquarters, Markaz Subhan Allah, according to the report.

JeM’s propaganda arm, Al-Qalam Media, announced the move on Telegram and circulated pamphlets and a video outlining the initiative. According to Sadiya’s letter, recruitment for the women’s brigade began on October 8 at Markaz Usman-o-Ali in Bahawalpur.


The report added that the group is enlisting wives of JeM commanders as well as economically vulnerable women from its religious centres in Kotli, Manshera, Karachi, and Bahawalpur. Social media is also buzzing with these latest developments.


Citing intelligence inputs, the report added that JeM, a Deobandi Sunni outfit, is spreading false claims that women were killed during India’s strike on its base to attract new recruits. Following heavy losses in Operation Sindoor, JeM has intensified recruitment and shifted much of its training infrastructure from PoJK to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, seen as relatively safer due to its distance from the Indian border.

Intelligence agencies, ToI noted, view the development as a serious security concern, since the use of women in terror operations makes detection and prevention significantly harder.