32 Serving, Former Pakistani Military Personnel Linked to Terror Cases Since 2003: Report

At least 32 serving or former Pakistani military personnel have been convicted, prosecuted, investigated, designated or credibly linked to terrorist organisations, terrorism-related conspiracies or militant activity between December 2003 and October 2026, according to a review of documented cases cited by The Sunday Guardian.

The cases span 23 separate investigations and incidents, including plots to assassinate then-President and Army chief Pervez Musharraf and investigations related to the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) network.

The report, however, noted that the 32 individuals do not share the same legal status. Some were convicted by Pakistani military courts, while others were prosecuted abroad, named in terrorism investigations, designated by foreign governments or linked through allegations and intelligence assessments.

The latest disputed case concerns Mohammad Asif alias Hashim Moosa, also known as Asif Fauji. On September 30, Indian security forces said they had killed a senior LeT commander by that name in Jammu and Kashmir. India’s Ministry of Home Affairs subsequently identified Musa as the last surviving member of a four-member LeT commander group operating in the region since 2022. Indian security sources also identified him as a former Pakistan Army havildar.

The cases documented in the report involve Pakistani military personnel ranging in rank from lance naik and naik to havildar, captain, major, colonel and brigadier.

Two separate attempts to assassinate Musharraf resulted in convictions of military personnel by Pakistani military courts. In the December 2003 attempt, six Pakistan Air Force personnel—Karam Din, Adnan Rashid, Khalid Mehmood, Nawazish, Niaz Mohammad and Nasrullah—were convicted. Five were sentenced to death, while one received life imprisonment. According to the report, Adnan Rashid later escaped prison and became a commander in the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.

The second December 2003 conspiracy involved Army personnel, including Havaldar Mohammad Younis, SSG Naik Arshad Mahmood and Lance Naik Zafar Iqbal Dogar.

Other military cases included convictions involving links with Al Qaeda, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Hizb-ut-Tahrir. In 2012, a Pakistan Army court-martial convicted Brigadier Ali Khan and four majors—Inayat Aziz, Iftikhar, Sohail Akbar and Jawad Baseer—for connections with Hizb-ut-Tahrir. Ali Khan received five years’ imprisonment, while the others were sentenced to terms ranging from 18 months to three years.

A major cluster of cases emerged from investigations into the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks and related international plots. India’s National Investigation Agency identified Major Iqbal and Major Sameer Ali as Pakistani intelligence officers whose alleged roles surfaced during its investigation into the Mumbai conspiracy. The NIA also identified retired Pakistan Army Major Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed, alias Pasha, as a conspirator and issued non-bailable warrants against him.

US federal proceedings separately implicated Major Iqbal in the Mumbai conspiracy. According to the US indictment cited in the report, Iqbal was in contact with David Headley through Tahawwur Rana and subsequently met Headley and received information concerning surveillance conducted in India.

Rana, a former Pakistani military personnel, was extradited from the US to India in 2025 to face trial over his alleged role in the November 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

The report also cited former Pakistan Army Major Haroon Ashiq and his brother Khurram Ashif as having left the military and subsequently becoming associated with LeT and Al Qaeda-linked networks.

The cases highlighted in the review cover more than two decades and reflect varying degrees of judicial findings, official investigations, foreign designations and allegations.