Pakistan rebrands LeT commander at terrorist funeral as ‘cleric, family man’ — raising global eyebrows.

However, the ID card matches exactly — including the date of birth and identification number — with the Hafiz Abdur Rauf sanctioned by the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

“Few individuals are more integral to LeT’s fundraising than Hafiz Abdur Rauf,” the US Treasury said in its designation statement.

Rauf is a senior member of the Pakistan Markazi Muslim League (PMML), a political party backed by LeT founder Hafiz Saeed. He ran in Pakistan’s 2024 general elections from Lahore’s NA-119 constituency. Another PMML candidate, Talha Saeed — the son of Hafiz Saeed — also contested from NA-122, though both secured few votes.

Rauf previously headed LeT’s charity front, the Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation (FIF), which had received funds from the now-defunct USAID.

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri had produced photographic evidence at a press briefing showing uniformed Pakistani Army and police personnel attending multiple funerals of terrorists killed in the strikes. One image clearly showed Rauf leading funeral prayers.

“These are not clerics or civilians — they are designated terrorists and those who support them,” Misri said.

Over 100 terrorists were killed in the May 7 operation targeting terror infrastructure across the border. The airstrikes were part of a wider counterterrorism strategy codenamed Operation Sindoor

New Delhi has long accused Islamabad of not only harbouring terrorists but attempting to mainstream them into politics under the guise of new parties like the PMML.