Khawaja Asif resigned as Pakistan's defence minister? Here's the truth behind internet buzz

A series of social media posts have triggered rumours that Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif was going to resign from his post. An account on the social media platform X named Zubair Ali Khan made a series of posts on Wednesday (August 7) claiming that Asif had handed in his resignation over a controversy, but had withdrawn it and was now unreachable. The Pakistani defence minister responded to the post saying, “With apologies, this gentleman has written his wishes in this tweet. Not reality.” Asif shared an image of the post with a stamp written FAKE. The user who started the rumours is a former journalist and had alleged that the minister resigned due to “intensified controversy regarding the arrest of the additional deputy commissioner revenue (ADCR) of Sialkot a few days ago on charges of alleged financial corruption”.

"In the resignation sent to Dr Tauqeer Shah, advisor to the prime minister’s office, Khawaja Asif stated that either the ADCR should be released or his resignation should be accepted,” the post alleged.

The former journalist also claimed that an “influential person” was behind the arrest, who was a subordinate of the defence minister’s department. He also said that Asif and former premier Nawaz Sharif had held a meeting in Murree, during which the defence minister was persuaded to withdraw his resignation on the PML-N president’s advice.

“After the meeting, Khawaja Asif is out of reach to everyone; neither any minister nor any journalist can contact him. Khawaja Asif has turned off all his numbers and has moved to an unknown location!” Khan said in the post.

The rumours came after the defence minister said that a great portion of Pakistan’s bureaucracy was seeking shelter and citizenship in Portugal with billions in hand. “More than half of the bureaucracy of our dear homeland has already acquired property in Portugal and is preparing to obtain citizenship,” Asif said in a post on Tuesday.