Nawaz asks Mushahidullah to explain claims made in BBC interview

DG ISPR Maj-Gen Asim Bajwa dismisses reports about a recording as baseless rumours

ISLAMABAD: Hours after an interview appeared wherein Federal Minister for Climate Change Mushahidullah Khan had claimed that some high ranking officers had tried to stage a coup at the height of last year’s protests in Islamabad, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif refuted all such notions and directed the minister to submit an explanation for his comments.

According to a spokesperson for the government, Nawaz denied Mushahidullah's claims of a tape, bearing recordings of high ranking officers detailing their plot, adding that no such tape ever existed.

According to the statement issued from PM House, the premier has instead sought an explanation from the federal cabinet member over his statement.

“PM does not have any knowledge about any such tape, " the spokesperson added.

Later, the army's 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 &farthest from truth-1/2

— Gen(R) Asim Saleem Bajwa (@AsimBajwaISPR) August 14, 2015

....Such rumours are irresponsible, and unprofessional-2/2

— Gen(R) Asim Saleem Bajwa (@AsimBajwaISPR) August 14, 2015

Mushahidullah had claimed in an interview to the BBC that former Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) chief had hatched a conspiracy to oust both, Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif and the prime minister, at the height of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) 120-day long protest in Islamabad.

The minister had claimed that the recording, by a top civil intelligence agency, had helped foil that plan. This recording, Mushahidullah claimed, had been presented to the premier, who had subsequently passed it on to the army chief.