The Pakistani Taliban have launched a women’s magazine called Sunnat E Khaula (The Way of Khaula). The magazine aims to urge women to join the ranks of the mujahideen. It features a completely veiled woman on the front cover, facing away from a camera. The Islamist group, Tehreek-e-Taliban Paksitan (TTP), has published the first edition.
The magazine is 45 pages long and features articles which celebrate the mothers of jihadis, and call upon “like-minded sisters to get together and learn new skills -- including how to use a grenade”.
The magazine has a celebrity interview with Taliban leader Mullah Fazlullah’s wife. The public has never heard from her before, and she was even said to have died in a drone strike. In the interview, she talks about how she was married at the age of 14, and how she doesn’t understand why there is a hue and cry about underage marriages.
“We have to understand that mature boys and girls, if left unmarried for too long, can become a source of moral destruction," she said.
A 6-year-old student has also written an article. In the magazine, he says that his brother died in a suicide attack, and he helps his mother look after holy warriors. He plays with toy guns and waits for the time when it will be his turn to carry out jihad.
The magazine urges women to "distribute literature reflecting on the obligation of jihad, arrange physical training classes for sisters. Learn how to operate simple weapons"
The TTP is responsible for some of Pakistan’s worst terror attacks, including the horrific school massacre in Peshawar in 2014.
The Pakistani military has managed to drive out the Taliban from its strongholds in the northwestern tribal areas. Experts say that the TTP launched the magazine to grab attention after a series of defeats.
The inaugural front cover of Sunnat-i-Khaula – which translates as “The Way of Khaula” and refers to a... https://t.co/6CTWWYZRbF
— Altaf Basharat (@altafbasharat1) August 8, 2017
Also Read: All-women Jihadi group emerges in Syria