Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, the spokesperson for the Pakistan Army during the military conflict with India, is the son of a nuclear scientist sanctioned by the United Nations and the US for his links with al Qaida, to which he allegedly provided crucial information and technical expertise, officials said here.

Lt Gen Chaudhry, a three-star general, has been actively briefing the media in his capacity as the chief of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) since India conducted intelligence-based strikes at nine terror camps, including the headquarters of the Jaish-e-Mohammed and the Lashkar-e-Toiba, to avenge the killing of 26 people in Pahalgam on April 22.

According to the United Nations documents, Chaudhry’s father, Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood, born in Amritsar, was known to have met the late al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

Mahmood is alleged to have provided insights into the infrastructure necessary for a nuclear weapons programme as well as the effects associated with nuclear weapons.

In addition, he was accused of raising funds for a fundamentalist organisation, Ummah Tameer-e-Nau, founded in 1999 to support humanitarian causes in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan before the US invasion in 2001.

Mahmood, who retired from the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, has authored several books discussing the intersection of religion and science, including Mechanics of the Doomsday and Life after Death, in which he reflects on the ultimate fate of the universe from an Islamic perspective.

Mahmood, 85, lives in Islamabad. Mahmood was arrested in 2001 after he reportedly admitted to meeting Laden, but was later released when authorities concluded that he lacked the technical knowledge to transfer nuclear secrets. His name also figures in the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) and Blocked Persons list of the US treasury department.

Lt Gen Chaudhry was appointed as the director-general of the ISPR by Pakistan Army chief Asim Munir in December 2022.