If I process this markdown file ('mwe-latex.md'):

---
title: "Minimal Working Example"
header-includes:
- \let\oldsection\section
- \renewcommand{\section}[1]{\clearpage\oldsection{#1}}
---

Text.

with the pandoc command:

pandoc -t latex --latex-engine=xelatex --output=mwe-latex.pdf mwe-latex.md

I get the the error:

! LaTeX Error: Missing \begin{document}.

See the LaTeX manual or LaTeX Companion for explanation.
Type H <return> for immediate help.
...

l.49 \let\oldsection\textbackslash{}s

pandoc: Error producing PDF

On generating latex output with the command:

pandoc -t latex --latex-engine=xelatex --standalone --output=mwe-latex.tex 
mwe-latex.md

and examining line 49 of the output file it becomes apparent that this line 
from the header inclusion:

\let\oldsection\section

has been munged by pandoc to:

\let\oldsection\textbackslash{}section

and this is causing the processing problem. (Note: changing latex engines 
makes no difference.)

Once line 49 is edited to resemble the original command from the header 
inclusion the error disappears.

How can I prevent this latex command in the header inclusion from being 
munged by pandoc?

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