Sharif, army deny reports of plot to overthrow govt

Islamabad - Prime Minister seeks explanation from minister Mushahidullah Khan over coup remarks.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has sought an explanation from minister for climate change Senator Mushahidullah Khan on his claim that some high-ranking officers led by former ISI chief Lieutenant-General Zaheerul Islam had tried to stage a coup at the height of last year's protests by PTI  in Islamabad.
The Prime Minister's House and the army spokesman vehemently refuted the claim as baseless and irresponsible.
In an interview with BBC, the minister claimed that the civilian spy agency, Intelligence Bureau (IB), had recorded a telephonic conversation by the then chief of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), Lt-Gen. Zaheerul Islam, which revealed that he and some other army generals were planning a coup to topple army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif and seize power in the country.
Gen. Zaheerul retired honourably by the end of last year on completion of his service.
"The prime minister took the tape recording to Gen. Raheel who was dumb struck by it," Mushahidullah claimed in his interview.
"No such tape ever existed nor did the prime minister ever take it to the army chief," a PM House spokesperson said in a prompt denial.
The spokesperson said the premier has instead sought an explanation from the federal cabinet member over his statement.
"The PM does not have any knowledge about any such tape," the spokesperson added.
Later, an army spokesperson too termed any reports about a "tape" as baseless rumours.
"The story about any tape recording as being discussed in media is totally baseless, unfounded and farthest from truth . irresponsible and unprofessional," military spokesman Major-General Asim Bajwa tweeted.
The minister had claimed that the recording had helped foil the coup plan. A similar claim was made last week by Defence Minister Khawaja Asif.
According to Mushahidullah, after learning about the tape, the "horrified" army chief called the ISI director-general and made him listen to the audio recording.
"General Zaheerul Islam Abbasi was asked by the army chief if the voice was his or not? And receiving the confirmation from him, the head of the intelligence agency was asked to leave the meeting," Senator Mushahidullah stated in his interview.
Political observers said that Mushahidullah's bombshell has upset PML-N's applecart.
"The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML -N) has shot itself in the foot once again," English daily Dawn said in a report on Saturday.
On the evening of Independence Day, when the celebrations were still ongoing, a federal minister's remark have thrown the ever fragile civil-military relations into a tail spin, compelling the government to deny the cabinet member's remarks and the military to issue a denial as well.
The strongly worded denial of the military is not going to be a good omen for the PML-N government, which is far from stable.
A retired army general Mujib Bokhari said the statements by federal ministers were ostensibly made to vilify PTI's dharna, but these have put Gen. Raheel in an embarrassing situation regarding his hold on his generals just at a time he is at the peak of popularity because of remarkable success in an anti-terrorism campaign and the Karachi operation.
Earlier last week, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had denied, though perfunctorily, the reports of any coup plan.
He said that Pakistan army is a disciplined force and no such conspiracy is possible against its powerful chief.
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