Power Plant (KANUPP-I) with no reason given as a principal engineer. In the 1980s, Munir Ahmad secured Mahmood a job as project manager for the construction of the Khushab Reactor (Khushab-I) where he served as chief engineer and aided with designing the coolant systems. In 1998, he was promoted as a director of the nuclear power division and held that position until 1999. After the reactor went critical in April 1998, Mahmood said in an interview: "This reactor (can produce enough plutonium for two to three nuclear weapons per year) Pakistan had "acquired the capability to produce.... boosted thermonuclear weapons and hydrogen bombs." In 1998, Mahmood was honoured with the Sitara-e-Imtiaz award in a ceremony by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. In 1998, he was promoted as a director of the nuclear power division and held that position until 1999. Radical politics and Ummah Tameer-e-Nau Though publicly endorsing the 1998 decision to carry out the Chagai-I nuclear tests by Prime Minister Sharif, Mahmood began appearing on news channels as an outspoken opponent of Sharif, as Mahmood vehemently opposed Pakistan becoming a signatory state of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) and Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) just like down south neighbour India. In Pakistan's popular news channels and newspapers, Mahmood gave numerous interviews, wrote articles, and lobbied against Sharif when learning that the Prime Minister had been willing to sign anti-nuclear weapon treaties, prompting the Pakistan Government to forcefully transfer Mahmood to a non-technical position at PAEC. Seeking premature retirement from PAEC in 1999, Mahmood moved towards publishing books and articles involving the relationship between Islam and science. Mahmood founded the Ummah Tameer-e-Nau (UTN)– a right-wing organisation– with his close associates. In 2000, he began attending lectures and religious sessions with Dr. Israr Ahmed who would later influence his political views and philosophy. Through UTN, Mahmood stepped into more radical politics, and began visiting Afghanistan where he wanted to be focused on rebuilding educational institutions, hospitals, and relief work. In August 2001, Mahmood and his colleague Chaudhry Abdul Majeed at the UTN met with Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Describing the meeting, the New York Times editorial quoted:"There is little doubt that Mahmood talked to the two al-Qaeda leaders about nuclear weapons, or that Al Qaeda desperately wanted the bomb". 2001 debriefing and detention Since 1999 and 2000 onwards, Pakistan's intelligence community had been tracking and monitoring Mahmood whose