Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, the current Director General of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), is the son of Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood — a former nuclear scientist and a UN-designated terrorist with reported ties to Osama bin Laden.
Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood, once a top official in Pakistan’s Atomic Energy Commission, was sanctioned by both the United Nations and the United States in 2001. His alleged crimes include meeting al-Qaeda leaders and discussing nuclear weapon development.
In 1999, Mahmood founded an organisation called Ummah Tameer-e-Nau (UTN), which was banned two years later due to its links with extremist groups. Mahmood, along with his associate Chaudhry Abdul Majeed, reportedly met Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri in Kandahar, Afghanistan in August 2001. Intelligence sources have long believed that the discussions during this meeting revolved around nuclear technologies.
Adding to the controversy, Mahmood publicly expressed bizarre theories such as harnessing supernatural djinns to solve Pakistan’s energy crisis — statements that drew ridicule from the scientific community and raised concerns internationally about his influence on nuclear policy.
Despite this troubling legacy, Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry rose through the ranks and now serves as the mouthpiece of the Pakistan military. His appointment has stirred concern, especially in light of ongoing tensions with India, over how deeply entrenched extremist ideologies might be within Pakistan’s power structures.
