Retired Pakist General Shahid Aziz, who mysteriously disappeared a few years ago, had died in 2018, claimed a magazine published by a regional branch of Al Qaeda.
The magazine--Nawa-e-Afghan Jihad,' (Voice of Afghan Jihad) -- also claimed that Aziz had close ties with the Al-Qaeda, Arab News reported.
The magazine is published by Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent's (AQIS). Aziz, formerly a top Pakist general, retired in 2005 after serving with the Pakistan army for 37 years. Aziz had served as the director-general of military operations among other key posts when Pervez Musharraf was military chief.
In 2013, Aziz authored a book that criticized the policies of the former army chief.
When rumors of his death and disappearance started circulating widely in 2018, Aziz's relatives rejected these claims and said that the former general is living a "very private life" of religious preaching.
This is the first time Al-Qaeda has made claims of Aziz's allegiance to the terrorist orgzation.
The February edition of the AQIS magazine also claimed Aziz had close ties with members of the militant orgzation and that the former general wrote a damning, never-before-seen manuscript for a book which was sent to AQIS in 2015, and would be published in the Urdu magazine in the coming months.
AQIS was formed by Al-Qaeda chief Ayman Al-Zawahiri in 2014 and aims to fight the governments of Pakistan, India, Afghstan, Myanmar, and Bangladesh.
( With inputs from ANI )