A Pakistani government minister resigned Saturday, officials said, after a controversial interview with the BBC in which he claimed the country's former chief spy had conspired to stage a military coup last year.
Climate change minister Mushahid Ullah Khan told the British broadcaster in an interview published online on Friday that the retired head of Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI), Lieutenant-General Zaheer-ul-Islam, had plotted to bring down the government of Nawaz Sharif during sit-in protests in Islamabad in 2014.
Khan said in the BBC interview that Islam had worked to trigger conflict between the Prime Minister and army chief General Raheel Sharif, and had planned on exploiting subsequent unrest to take over the country.
The bid failed, he said, when the civilian Intelligence Bureau (IB) -- which was tapping some of Islam's telephone conversations -- presented evidence of the plot to the Prime Minister, who then informed the army chief.
"There were voices of several people in that tape. There was also (the) voice of Zaheer-ul-Islam Abbasi," Khan had told BBC.
Both the Prime Minister's office and the military denied the claims soon after the interview was published on Friday, however, saying no such tapes existed.
"The story about any tape recording as being discussed in media is totally baseless, unfounded & farthest from truth," Major General Asim Saleem Bajwa, the military spokesman had tweeted on Friday evening.
Federal minister for information and broadcasting Pervez Rashid told AFP that Khan, who is currently attending a climate change conference in the Maldives, had sent his resignation to the Prime Minister after the interview.
"Yes, he has sent his resignation from Maldives," Rashid said.
An official of the ministry of climate change said that the Prime Minister had ordered Khan back from the Maldives and asked him to resign.
"He left for Maldives on Saturday morning and was called back by the government after the controversy created by his interview," a senior official in Khan's office told AFP on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the media.
Khan had sent his resignation and was expected back in the country by late Saturday or Sunday, the official said.
On August 14 last year, Pakistan's main opposition party Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf launched a 126-day sit-in -- also supported by the religious political party Pakistan Awami Tehreek -- in front of the national parliament in Islamabad in an effort to bring down the government.
The protest failed, however, largely because it could not inspire mass support from the public one year after general elections, and because the military establishment refused to move against the government.
AFP
Wed Aug 26 2015
![Pakistan minister resigns after BBC claims of ISI coup plot Pakistan minister resigns after BBC claims of ISI coup plot](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/http://img.astroawani.com/2015-08/61440585142_MushahidUllahKhan.jpg)
Khan said in the BBC interview that Islam had worked to trigger conflict between the Prime Minister and army chief General Raheel Sharif, and had planned on exploiting subsequent unrest to take over the country. - AFP Photo
![[KOLUMNIS] Konotasi 'Belanda' dalam pantun dan peribahasa Melayu [KOLUMNIS] Konotasi 'Belanda' dalam pantun dan peribahasa Melayu](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-07/51721207677_belanda.jpg)
[KOLUMNIS] Konotasi 'Belanda' dalam pantun dan peribahasa Melayu
Pantun merupakan akal budi orang Melayu, iaitu penciptaan bait-bait diksi yang indah yang mempunyai unsur alam dan persekitaran masyarakat.
![Suspek kes bunuh Nur Farah Kartini belum ditahan tugas - Polis Perak Suspek kes bunuh Nur Farah Kartini belum ditahan tugas - Polis Perak](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-07/51721098519_suspekbunuhNurFar.jpg)
Suspek kes bunuh Nur Farah Kartini belum ditahan tugas - Polis Perak
Polis Perak sedang menunggu hasil siasatan terhadap suspek yang juga anggota di kontinjen negeri itu sebelum tindakan jabatan diambil berhubung kes bunuh Nur Farah Kartini Abdullah.
![Kapal USS Blue Ridge berlabuh di Pelabuhan Klang, perkukuh hubungan Malaysia-AS Kapal USS Blue Ridge berlabuh di Pelabuhan Klang, perkukuh hubungan Malaysia-AS](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-07/71721207510_TLDM.jpg)
Kapal USS Blue Ridge berlabuh di Pelabuhan Klang, perkukuh hubungan Malaysia-AS
Kapal USS Blue Ridge (LCC19) berlabuh di Malaysia, tanda hubungan bilateral AS-Malaysia diperkukuh.
![Media diingatkan tidak keluar kenyataan langkau siasatan polis Media diingatkan tidak keluar kenyataan langkau siasatan polis](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-03/61711350467_TBHUSSEINOMARjp.jpg)
Media diingatkan tidak keluar kenyataan langkau siasatan polis
Pengamal media diingatkan supaya tidak mengeluarkan sebarang kenyataan melangkaui siasatan polis berhubung mana-mana kes dalam proses siasatan.
![Isu salah guna kuasa: Tiada kompromi terhadap anggota PBT terlibat - Dr Zaliha Isu salah guna kuasa: Tiada kompromi terhadap anggota PBT terlibat - Dr Zaliha](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-06/41718274360_ZalihaMustafa.jpg)
Isu salah guna kuasa: Tiada kompromi terhadap anggota PBT terlibat - Dr Zaliha
Terserah kepada SPRM atau mana-mana agensi penguat kuasa untuk mengambil tindakan sewajarnya terhadap individu yang melanggar peraturan.
![Vietnam sasar capai 100 peratus liputan jalur lebar di lebuh raya, landasan kereta api menjelang 2025 Vietnam sasar capai 100 peratus liputan jalur lebar di lebuh raya, landasan kereta api menjelang 2025](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-07/61721207496_vietnamlebuhraya.jpg)
Vietnam sasar capai 100 peratus liputan jalur lebar di lebuh raya, landasan kereta api menjelang 2025
Sasaran ini adalah berikutan rancangan Kementerian Penerangan dan Komunikasi untuk meningkatkan kualiti rangkaian telekomunikasi mudah alih.
![Bunuh kekasih hamil: Bekas polis terlepas hukuman gantung Bunuh kekasih hamil: Bekas polis terlepas hukuman gantung](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-07/71721202906_bunuhkekasih.jpg)
Bunuh kekasih hamil: Bekas polis terlepas hukuman gantung
Seorang bekas anggota polis terlepas tali gantung selepas Mahkamah Persekutuan mengetepikan hukuman gantung terhadapnya kerana membunuh kekasihnya yang hamil pada 2015.
AWANI Ringkas: Presiden UMNO serah kepada rauf ambil tindakan
Ikuti rangkuman berita utama yang menjadi tumpuan sepanjang hari di Astro AWANI menerusi AWANI Ringkas.
J.D Vance pernah menjadi pengkritik utama Trump
J.D Vance yang diumumkan sebagai bakal Naib Presiden Amerika Syarikat yang akan bergandingan dengan calon Republikan, Donald Trump membuat pengakuan bahawa sebelum ini beliau merupakan pengkritik keras Trump.
Babydog ramal kemenangan besar Parti Republikan
Tidak cukup penganalisis politik, anjing pun dijadikan sandaran meramalkan siapa Presiden Amerika Syarikat.
![COVID-19: Misteri penularan dan kematian virus korona rendah di India COVID-19: Misteri penularan dan kematian virus korona rendah di India](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/http://img.astroawani.com/2020-04/41588077239_covidindia.jpg)
COVID-19: Misteri penularan dan kematian virus korona rendah di India
Akhbar Financial Times pula membuat andaian, berdasarkan kajian di 14 negara, kadar kematian COVID-19 mungkin 60 peratus lebih tinggi.
![Tindas warga Islam Xinjiang: 'Panorama' dedah bukti, China tegas nafi Tindas warga Islam Xinjiang: 'Panorama' dedah bukti, China tegas nafi](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/http://img.astroawani.com/2019-11/81574695470_XinjiangUighur.jpg)
Tindas warga Islam Xinjiang: 'Panorama' dedah bukti, China tegas nafi
Rancangan televisyen BBC siar dokumen rahsia dedah cara rakyat Islam Xinjiang dalam tahanan dipaksa jalani proses indoktrinasi.
![Menang pilihan raya UK, Najib ucap tahniah kepada Cameron Menang pilihan raya UK, Najib ucap tahniah kepada Cameron](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/http://img.astroawani.com/2015-05/51431098190_295x200.jpg)
Menang pilihan raya UK, Najib ucap tahniah kepada Cameron
Najib berkata Malaysia juga menaruh harapan untuk menjalin hubungan dan kerjasama yang lebih mendalam dengan UK.