KARACHI, Nov 20: A former follower and employee of Zaid Zaman Hamid, a self-proclaimed security analyst, accused on Wednesday the latter of plotting to ‘assassinate army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani’ and instigate a revolt in the armed forces through emails he sent to over a thousand officers — an allegation that Mr Hamid denied in a prompt response.

Curiously, the army chose not to respond to what appear to be serious allegations against intelligence agencies.

“Zaid Hamid is a quisling and enemy of Islam and Pakistan, who had plotted unsuccessfully to assassinate the pro-democracy army chief Gen Kayani,” said Imaad Khalid, an employee of Mr Hamid until March, at a press conference at the Karachi Press Club.

In a flurry of accusations directed against Mr Hamid and a TV anchor, Mr Khalid, son of a former air commodore, showed some emails in a slide show purportedly sent from the account of Mr Hamid, claiming that these were sent to over a thousand army officers to sow chaos in the armed forces.

He said he had moved a petition against Mr Hamid in the Supreme Court in which he accused the latter of trying to instigate a mutiny in the Pakistan Army, besides levelling other serious charges against the so-called analyst.

He said his former boss had compiled a ‘hit list’, including the names of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, and others from the media and the judiciary.

Zaid Hamid reacts

Mr Hamid responded to the allegations through his twitter account (@ZaidZamanHamid) in which he snubbed his detractor.

“Pakarmy (Pakistan Army) is an extremely professional org. Anyone contacting thousands of officers for rebellion against COAS cannot survive,” he tweeted.

“Imaad was our team member who suddenly became hostile in April & joined the enemies.”

In another tweet, Mr Hamid warned a TV channel that “a snake who can betray” his family and turn against his mentor could also sell the channel for a price. “He did!” he remarked.

He said he had certain secret tapes, containing conversation of his detractor with a TV channel.

“Imaad has launched a treason case against me in SC. It would be fun to play these secret tapes in SC,” he said.