'Innocent Man?' PIB Fact Check Exposes Pakistan's False Claim About LeT's Hafiz Abdur Rauf
Rauf was seen in a viral video leading funeral prayers for LeT operatives killed during precision Indian strikes under Operation Sindoor on May 7
The Fact Check Unit of the Press Information Bureau (PIB) on Monday dismissed Pakistan's claim that Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) leader Hafiz Abdul Rauf, a US-designated global terrorist, is an 'innocent man."
In a post on X titled 'Calling Out Pakistan's Bluff", PIB said Pakistan's Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (DG ISPR) had wrongly claimed that Rauf, a senior LeT leader, was just a 'common man."
'Pakistan's DG ISPR claims that LeT terrorist Hafiz Abdur Rauf is an 'Innocent Man'. DG ISPR's 'COMMON MAN" is a Globally Sanctioned Terrorist – clearly visible in the viral terrorist funeral picture," the PIB fact check team wrote.
The post added that the identity shared by Pakistan's military matches that of Rauf, who has been part of LeT's senior leadership since at least 1999.
'The identity details shared by DG ISPR is identical to the details of Hafiz Abdur Rauf, a member of LeT's senior leadership since at least 1999 and part of the US Sanctions List," it stated.
This comes after Rauf was seen in a viral video leading funeral prayers for LeT operatives killed during precision Indian strikes under Operation Sindoor on May 7. These strikes were carried out to avenge the killing of Indian tourists in Pahalgam by Pakistan-backed terrorists.
The video, posted by New York Times columnist Taha Siddiqui, shows Rauf at the funeral alongside other LeT members. Right after the prayers, the crowd can be heard shouting 'Al Jihad, Al Jihad."
Rauf has long been associated with Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), the front organisation of LeT. Though not related by blood to LeT founder Hafiz Saeed, Rauf has worked closely with him for decades and is part of his core ideological and operational group.
The Indian Army, in a press briefing on Sunday, named several Pakistani Army officials who attended the funeral alongside Rauf.
Rauf has been designated under UNSC 1267 sanctions, and the US Treasury Department lists him as a key LeT operative. During public events and funerals of LeT operatives, he is often seen in ceremonial or spiritual roles, to present a 'clerical" appearance, though he deep links to the terror group's activities.
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