The head of Pakistan’s powerful military espionage agency ISI, Major General Ahmed Sharif, has a family connection that raises eyebrows. His father, Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood, is a nuclear scientist who faced sanctions from the United Nations for providing the Taliban and Al Qaeda with information about chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons.
Apart from his involvement in sensitive affairs, Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood is known for his unconventional views on science, including his proposition that djinns could be harnessed to generate electricity.
Ahmed Sharif assumed the leadership of the Inter-Services Public Relations in November 2021, appointed by Pakistan’s army chief, General Asim Munir. He replaced Lieutenant General Babar Iftikhar, who was accused of political interference by former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
According to the United Nations, Bashiruddin Mahmood had meetings with Osama bin Laden, the slain Al Qaeda chief, during which he shared information about nuclear weapons infrastructure and their potential effects. Additionally, he was alleged to have fundraised for a fundamentalist group called the Ummah Tameer-e-Nau.
Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood, educated in Germany and the United Kingdom, was once honored with Pakistan’s third-highest civilian honor, Sitara-e-Imtiaz, by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. However, he later became a vocal critic of the politician and a supporter of jihadists in Afghanistan.
There were brief investigations by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Directorate into Ahmed Sharif’s potential links to his father’s pro-Al Qaeda activities when he was a young major-rank officer. The inquiry cleared Ahmed Sharif of any suspicion, although it remains unclear whether he was aware of his father’s fundraising for the Taliban regime. Asim Mehmood, a doctor and Ahmed Sharif’s brother, was also questioned by ISI officials.
Details on Ahmed Sharif’s career are scarce, but it is believed he previously served as the director general of the Defense Science and Technology Organization (DESTO), a secretive research institution tasked with developing advanced military systems. The organization faced US technology sanctions after Pakistan’s nuclear weapons tests, but these sanctions were lifted after 9/11 as part of efforts to strengthen ties with Islamabad. Ahmed Sharif has also served in the military operations directorate.
Not much is known about Ahmed Sharif’s personal ideological inclinations. Scholars suggest that he is part of a generation that grew up under the dictatorship of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, which instilled ultra-nationalist ideas.
After retiring from the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood authored several apocalypse-themed books, attempting to merge religious scripture with science. His writings warned that the Last Hour was imminent. He also expressed unconventional views on physics, referring to energy as including “djinn” and “angels” made of fire and finer, more subtle energy, respectively.
Besides his controversial views, Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood co-founded the Ummah Tameer-e-Nau (UTN) with Chaudhry Abdul Majeed, a former senior scientist at the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission. The UTN was a volunteer organization that raised funds for charitable causes in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and had notable members like retired lieutenant general Hamid Gul, a former ISI director-general. The organization also built schools and other facilities in Kandahar.
Following his arrest in 2001, Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood admitted to meeting Osama bin Laden but claimed that their discussions were about fundraising for a technical college in Afghanistan. The ISI concluded that he lacked the technical knowledge to share nuclear weapons secrets with Al Qaeda, leading to his release.
