Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Thursday rejected rumours about his resignation following the arrest of Sialkot’s ADCR by anti-corruption.
“The person [here] has expressed his [own] wishes in the post and not the truth,” Asif said in a post on X while referring to a claim on social media that he has stepped down as defence minister.
Asif’s remarks came in response to Zubair Ali Khan’s, a journalist as per his X bio, post claiming that the defence czar had submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
“In the resignation sent to PM Office’s Adviser Dr Tauqeer Shah, Asif has said that either the ADCR should be released or his resignation is accepted,” claimed Zubair in his post.
Zubair further added that the Sialkot additional deputy commissioner (revenue) — who he claimed had also served as a returning officer in the 2024 general elections — was arrested by the anti-corruption department over financial irregularities and later obtained his five-day remand.
The said journalist went on to claim that the defence minister had met Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif in Murree, where the former conveyed his concerns, in response, Nawaz advised him to revoke his resignation.
Additionally, as per Zubair, Asif had gone incommunicado, switched off his cellphone numbers and had moved to an unknown location.
However, the defence minister has categorically denied such claims, including the ones concerning his resignation.
The rumours came against the backdrop of Asif’s earlier statement where he strongly criticised the country’s senior bureaucracy, claiming that a large number of officials are purchasing properties in Portugal in a bid to eventually settle abroad.
The politician, in a recent post on X, had alleged that more than half of the bureaucracy is quietly investing in Portugal and preparing to acquire citizenship there.
He also alleged that one bureaucrat, known to be close to former chief minister Usman Buzdar, received Rs4 billion in Salami alone at his daughter’s wedding.
In a follow-up post on Wednesday, Asif doubled down on his claim and said that an individual named “Virk” was “playing a key role providing shelter to the bureaucracy and other elites in Portugal”.
