The News quoted Lt Gen Zaheerul Islam as saying that he never sent any message to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in this regard. “I never sent anyone to convey any such message to the PM," he said.
The former DG ISI further said that he had instead advised the then government to engage the protesting parties and hold talks with them to end the sit-in.
Nawaz Sharif had recently made headlines by claiming that the then DG ISI Gen Zaheerul Islam had sought his resignation as PM during the protests staged by PTI and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) in 2014. The former prime minister said this in an apparent reference to the military establishment's involvement in executive affairs.
Prime Minister Imran Khan had also reacted to Sharif's statement and said that he [Khan] would have fired the DG ISI upon his act of seeking his resignation if he were Nawaz Sharif.