US-Designated Global Terrorist Muhammad Sarwar Dies Under Mysterious Circumstances in Lahore

US-designated global terrorist and senior Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander Muhammad Sarwar, alias Abu Hashim, died under mysterious circumstances in Lahore, Pakistan, on Sunday. Sarwar, a founding figure of the terrorist outfit, reportedly suffered a head injury after falling down a flight of stairs at Markaz Qadsia, the headquarters of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD).

 

Pakistan Markazi Muslim League (PMML), whose Punjab president was Sarwar, confirmed his death in a statement. “Pakistan Markazi Muslim League (PMML) Punjab President Muhammad Sarwar has passed away. He was on his way from home to the mosque to offer prayers when he collapsed and died,” a PMML spokesperson said.

 

The party did not specify the exact cause of his death, while reports said he sustained a head injury after falling down the stairs.

 

His funeral was scheduled to be held at Jamia Al-Qadsia, the JuD headquarters in Lahore's Chuburji area, late Sunday night.

 

PMML is the political offshoot of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), headed by Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed. Saeed has been in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail since 2019 after being convicted in multiple terror financing cases, officials said.

 

In 2016, the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated Sarwar and another senior LeT leader, Shahid Mahmood, as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs).

 

The action was aimed to disrupt LeT’s fundraising and support networks. OFAC said both Sardar and Mahmood were involved in raising and moving funds to support terrorist group’s operations.

 

According to OFAC, Sarwar had been a senior LeT official in Lahore for more than a decade and had held several leadership positions in the outfit. He had served as the group's Lahore chief since at least January 2015 and maintained links with its senior leaders. Between 2012 and 2013, he worked with LeT's foreign affairs chief Hafiz Abdul Rahman Makki, who sought money from him to cover travel expenses within Pakistan in early 2013.

 

OFAC also said Sarwar's association with LeT dated back to the early 2000s. As the group's Lahore emir, he was directly involved in fundraising and used Pakistan's formal financial system to raise and transfer money on behalf of the terrorist organisation.

(With agency inputs)