Weeks Before Delhi Blast, Pulwama Conspirator's Wife Joined Jaish Outfit

Weeks before the blast in Delhi, the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) added a new member to its ranks. Afira Bibi, the wife of a terror mastermind who was behind the 2019 Pulwama attack, is now a face of the JeM's women's wing, "Jamaat-ul-Mominat."

She has joined the brigade's Shura, or advisory council. In this capacity, she will work alongside Sadia Azhar, the younger sister of UN-designated terrorist Masood Azhar, who has never shied away from publicly announcing his plans to carry out terror attacks across the border. She is the wife of terrorist Yusuf Azhar, the mastermind of Kandahar hijacking who was killed during Operation Sindoor strikes on the Jaish's Bahawalpur camp.

Sadia serves a major purpose in Azhar's nefarious designs to spread terror in India. She has emerged as an essential tool to expand his outfit's reach and radicalise and recruit women members within its fold. Under her shadow, Bibi will also oversee the activities of the Jamaat-un-Mominat.

Afira Bibi's Husband

Bibi's husband, Umar Farooq, was a top commander in the Jaish ranks. He was the key conspirator behind the Pulwama attack. In the attack, an explosive-laden vehicle had rammed a convoy of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), killing 40 personnel on February 14, 2019. He was killed during an encounter in the Dachigam National Park area of Jammu and Kashmir in 2019.

The Women's Brigade

Azhar had announced the formation of the women's brigade on October 8. On October 19, an event called 'Dukhtaran-e-Islam' was held in Rawalkot, POK (Pakistan-occupied Kashmir), to bring in women members into the group. To oversee the activities, he also brought in his sister, Sadia, and later, Bibi.

At the centre of Sadia and Bibi's appointment is Azhar's plan to spread its propaganda and ideology among Muslim women. Sources suggest that Jaish is trying to strengthen its network through women on the lines of ISIS, Hamas, and LTTE, and eventually prepare them for fidayeen (suicide) attacks.

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The Jamaat-un-Mominat is actively involved in the recruitment of women into the Jaish fold, intelligence sources said. They are trying to indoctrinate women with extremist views under the guise of "religious education" and "social activities."

Intelligence agencies believe that this is a new tactic by the terrorist group to promote radicalism and terrorism, trying to portray it as "women's empowerment."

Terror Course For Women

The Jamaat-un-Mominat launched an online training course last month to collect funds and recruit women in large numbers, according to exclusive details accessed by NDTV. Under the course, called 'Tufat al-Mominat', women members from the families of Jaish commanders were to be taught the "duties of women under the perspectives of jihad." The scope of the course even included members from Azhar's family.

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The recruitment drive was scheduled to begin on November 8. Masood Azhar's sisters, Sadia and Samaira Azhar, were to conduct lectures on online platforms for 40 minutes each day and encourage women to join the Jamat ul-Muminat.

Jaish also collected PKR 500 from every woman enrolling for the course, with Azhar appealing for funds in his latest address at his Bahawalpur camp. Besides, the women are also being made to fill out an online form.

Delhi Blast Link

The women's brigade has been linked to the Red Fort blast through Dr Shaheen Saeed, a resident of Lucknow. One of the recruits of the Jamaat-un-Mominat in India, Saeed, had been tasked with setting up the organisation's local unit in the nation. She was arrested after an assault rifle and ammunition were found in her car, hours before an i20 car exploded in slow traffic near the Red Fort Metro Station on Monday evening. Nine people died in the blast, and nearly two dozen were injured.