Islamabad:
Defense Minister Khawaja Asif was speculated on Thursday that he has withdrawn and termed the allegations “completely false”.
The PML-N leader published a screen shot of a thread shared on X (formerly Twitter) by journalist Zubair Ali Khan, who claimed Asif had withdrawn from his position in office.
Marking the “Fake” screen, wrote Asif, “with excuses this master has expressed his wishes in this tweet, not reality”.
Khan claimed that Asif had withdrawn in response to “intensified controversy about the arrest of the additional Deputy Commissioner Revenue (ADCR) for Sialkot a few days ago on charges of alleged financial corruption”.
According to Khan’s thread, “in the resignation presented to Dr. Tauqeer Shah, adviser to the Prime Minister’s office, Khawaja Asif said that ADCR should either be released or his resignation should be accepted.”
Khan also claimed that an “influential person” was involved in the arrest, a person who was reportedly a subordinate to the Department of Defense.
Later, he shared an update and further claimed that Asif and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had held a meeting in Murree, where the PML-N president advised Asif to withdraw his resignation and the defense minister agreed.
“After the meeting, Khawaja Asif has become unavailable; neither any minister nor journalist is able to contact him. He has turned off all his phone numbers and moved to a non -revealed place,” Khan claimed.
Rumors began after Asif claimed that a large segment of Pakistan’s bureaucracy sought refuge and citizenship in Portugal and brought with it billions of rupees.
In a post on Tuesday, Asif wrote on X, “More than half of the bureaucracy in our dear homeland has already acquired property in Portugal and is now preparing to secure citizenship”.
