Responding to allegations leveled by Imran Khan in a recent podcast with a local media channel, Aleem Khan, a dissident member of Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf challenged his party’s chairman to come on live television and have a debate with him. During the podcast, Imran Khan accused his former aide of soliciting illegal benefits from him. Imran Khan said, “Aleem Khan expected me to legalize his 300-acre land near Ravi”. He added that “thereafter, I developed differences with him.”
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Reacting to comments made by Imran Khan, Aleem Khan underscored that he had been in the opposition from 2010 to 2018 and has owned all the said properties since 2010. He added that he had purchased all the land from private landlords and claimed that he owned over 3000 acres, not just 300 acres, as alleged by the former premier. As he termed the accusations baseless, Aleem Khan pondered how could he have known that Imran Khan would become the Prime Minister in 2018. “Did I stand by you [Imran Khan] during all difficult phases to change the status of my 300-acre land?” he questioned. Aleem Khan wondered how Ravi Urban Development Authority (RUDA) could sell the land to private developers when it had initially acquired it at government rates. The dissident member called for a probe into the matter and said that “An investigation should be conducted regarding the developers who have been given the land.”
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Aleem Khan added that “If your [Imran Khan] golf course can be constructed under RUDA then why not my society?”
The former Prime Minister also accused Jahangir Tareen of standing with the “biggest dacoits in the country.” Imran claimed that the Tareen also sought illegal benefits from him to shelter his business from the commission formed to probe the sugar crisis.
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Imran Khan’s interview has sparked debate in the country and took the internet by storm. The podcast made its way into the top trends of Twitter, leaving the general public’s opinion divided, with some supporting Imran khan while others viewed the claims made by the ousted Prime Minister with dubiety.