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Pakistan Minister Resigns After Making Claims Of Overthrow Plot


A Pakistani government minister has resigned after alleging that the country’s former chief spy had conspired to stage a military coup.

Mushahid Ullah Khan, the federal minister for the environment, gave an interview to the BBC's Urdu Service on August 14 about the violent rallies in Islamabad in 2014 led by opposition leader Imran Khan and cleric Tahir ul-Qadri.

Khan told the BBC that former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lieutenant-General Zaheer-ul-Islam was behind the two months of violent antigovernment rallies, during which three people were killed and more than 500 wounded.

Information Minister Pervez Rashid said that he received Khan’s resignation on August 15.

It was not clear whether he would accept it.

The Pakistani military denied the claim and the government said it wasn’t aware of any such conspiracy.

Based on reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP

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