LAHORE: Former Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leaders Jahangir Khan Tareen and Abdul Aleem Khan have said that no clue to the corruption of former prime minister Imran Khan can be found without first taking into custody former Punjab chief minister Usman Buzdar and Farhat Shehzadi, a friend of Mr Khan’s wife, Bushra Bibi.

The duo, who along with scores of other PTI leaders have parted ways with the PTI and formed a new organisation, Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party, said this while responding to a questioner about the imprisonment of Imran Khan in the Toshakhana case at a press conference here on Sunday.

The presser was held to announce the joining of the new party by Talib Nakai, Ayaz Nakai, and others from Kasur district.

Aleem Khan said that he and Mr Tareen had revealed the facts about the wrongdoings by the PTI leadership, but those who must speak their mind and who had the evidence of the corruption of Imran Khan were sitting abroad, a reference to Ms Shehzadi, who had left Pakistan soon after Mr Buzdar quit as Punjab chief minister in 2022.

Aleem Khan said that Imran Khan was reaping what he had sown, adding that arrogance is an act most despised by Allah Almighty. Referring to the PTI chief’s “selfishness,” he said that he who could not become loyal to his friends, benefactors, family, and workers cannot be loyal to his country.

He said that the conviction of Imran Khan in the Toshakhana case is the first drop, and people would see more cases of corruption surfacing and being proved in courts in the coming days.

He said that Imran Khan is the same person who had been blaming others for corruption, while he himself neither spared any watch, nor pearl and necklace, and filled his own closet, but dismissed the ISI chief for pointing out that his wife (Bushra) was involved in corruption.

Responding to a query, Mr Tareen said that whenever called by any investigation agency or court to testify against corruption by the former ruler, they would respond and speak the truth.

Answering a question about the likely delay in the general election because of the approval of the results of the digital census by the Council of Common Interest the other day, he said that the census had been held after 10 years, and during this time, more people would have become eligible to vote in each constituency and province. It is good that they too would get a chance to vote for their favorite candidate and party.

“You are going to elect a government for the next five years, and electing a government for a five-year mandate on the basis of a new census is fair and just. There is no harm if the polls are delayed for a few days because of it.”

Published in Dawn, August 7th, 2023