LAHORE: Disgruntled PTI MPA Aleem Khan has challenged his party chief Imran Khan for a TV debate with him over the allegations against him so that the people could know truth.

Aleem said another disgruntled leader, Jehangir Khan Tareen, should also be part of that sitting on TV so that he could defend himself in the face of Imran Khan’s allegations.

On Thursday, Imran Khan in a podcast interview accused Aleem and Tareen of seeking benefits being part of his government. Mr Khan said Aleem wanted to have 300 acres in Lahore legalised while Tareen had problems when a commission was formed to probe the sugar scam.

He said Aleem’s name also appeared in the Pandora Papers and he was also wanted by the NAB in corruption cases.

The former premier further said both Aleem and Tareen had joined hands with the PML-N because corruption suited them.

Responding to Imran’s allegations, Aleem asked his ‘old friend’ on Friday as why he did not join him on a live TV debate on such allegations so that truth could be known to everyone. “I want to say categorically that when I joined Imran in 2010, I owned 3,000 acres at Ravi which I purchased from a third party. None of that land (3,000 acres) was acquired through the government authorities,” he said and asserted that not an inch of this land was owned by the state.

Aleem said Imran Khan was talking about RUDA (Ravi Urban Development Authority) project which he was keen to develop during the PTI government.

“RUDA had acquired the land from private owners on state rates against a few hundred thousand rupees (per acre) and later handed it over to its blue-eyed developers,” he alleged and asked Imran should he reveal the names of those developers.

“What relation those developers had with Imran Khan... this must be probed to know the truth,” he said and also pointed fingers at those who were hosting Farah Khan in Dubai.

Aleem said the authorities should also investigate whose jet Farah would use.

“I would like to ask whether some relatives of an LDA vice chairman appointed by Imran Khan were among the 10 developers who got the RUDA land,” Aleem questioned.

Tareen group’s spokesperson Raja Riaz said Mr Tareen had been advised by the group members to respond to Imran Khan’s allegations and expose him.

Published in Dawn,May 7th, 2022