London-based economist Imran Rasul has become the second member of the new Pakistan government's Economic Advisory Council (EAC) to resign in protest against the exclusion of US-based academic Atif R Mian who was told to step down from the body due to a backlash over his Ahmadi faith.

Succumbing to pressure from the hardliners, the Pakistan government on Friday withdrew the nomination of noted economist Mian, a member of the minority Ahmadi community, from the newly-constituted economic panel. "With a heavy heart, I have resigned from the EAC this morning," Rasul, a professor of economics at University College, London, said in a tweet on Saturday.