Federal minister for the environment, Mushahidullah Khan, has resigned from his post during an interview with BBC Urdu.
According to the reports, Mr. Khan, has resigned after he accused the former head of military intelligence of encouraging violent street demonstrations last year in the efforts of unseating the government. The allegations according to bcc date backs to events of street protests last year against the government, and accordingly it was led by opposing party, Tehreek-e-Insaaf and cleric Tahirul Qadri.
In response to the said allegations, a military spokesperson said in reply that the statements of Mr. Khan were "totally baseless". The plan to unseat the country's (Pakistan) leadership was not true according to the source.
In the report of Reuters, Khan also said that a civilian intelligence was able to record the instruction of agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lieutenant-General Zaheer-ul-Islam telling protesters to cause chaos. However, the military spokesperson Major-General Asim Bajwa denied the allegation of Mr. Khan. In a tweeter post, he that;
"The story about any tape recording as being discussed in media is totally baseless, unfounded and farthest from (the) truth. Such rumors are irresponsible, and unprofessional."
Pervez Rashid, Information Minister of Pakistan, likewise denied the claims of Mr. Khan saying that, "No such thing ever happened. No tape was listened to or played," he added.
The said statements and allegations resulted to rumors and more speculations, and as described by Reuters, "The interview fed fevered speculation in a nation where the relationship between the civilian government and the military is constantly scrutinized for any hint of tension."
As of current reports, Mr. Khan has said to have submitted his resignation to Prime Minister and it is being considered. And for the record this is not the first time that a government official accused Gen Islam anti- government plot. For earlier this year defence Minister Khawaja Asif also made similar accusation against Gen Islam, although he was not reprimanded for his comments.
