Aleem challenges Imran to public debate

LAHORE: Responding to allegations levelled by former Prime Minister Imran Khan, Abdul Aleem Khan has challenged him for a debate on a TV channel, anywhere and anytime.

He said that he had been accused of regularising 300 acres of land but “Imran Khan should know that I had more than 3,000 acres of land and I owned the society even before 2010 when Imran Khan along with his friends came to my house to ask for money.” Aleem Khan said that Imran Khan should remember that he had come to his house to join the party and he did not go to him. He said that he had bought the land from people to form a residential society while it was acquired through the Ravi Urban Development Authority (RUDA) set up by Imran Khan. He said that Imran Khan should tell the nation all the facts about the financers through whom he had set up the RUDA and acquired land and allowed the construction of shopping plazas, golf courses and commercial buildings on them where the LDA vice chairman and Farah Gogi were also involved. Abdul Aleem Khan reminded Imran Khan that since the Minar-e-Pakistan meeting in 2011, whenever there was a difficult time for the party, hehad supported him and the party. He regretted that Imran Khan had levelled a baseless accusation and today the quotation of Hazrat Ali (R.A) 1500 years ago proved to be true that "one should be careful about whom you oblige".

Abdul Aleem Khan said that Imran Khan had not appointed him the Chief Minister of Punjab because his choice was Usman Buzdar through whom he wanted to bring Farah Khan on the front for corruption and get huge amounts of money in every posting and transfer. “If Aleem Khan had been the chief minister of Punjab, no Farah Khan would have been allowed to do so. I reached the Punjab Assembly in a car in 2002 and even today I have the best model of the same car and Allah Almighty has also given me the best residence,” he added. He reminded Imran Khan that during the party campaign, a big developer had refused the landing of his helicopter by saying that he was not an Aleem Khan to face a loss in his business.

Aleem Khan said that it would be better for Imran Khan to refrain from making accusations, engage in such politics, keep trying to mislead the nation and rather come and sit openly on any channel in front of him and Jahangir Tareen. He said that since Imran Khan was silent he did not say anything bout him. He recalled that his first meeting with ambassadors was held at Imran Khan's house where he had met the ambassadors of the United States, England and the European Union. He said the same personality had called on Imran Khan but objections were raised when he did so. “Imran Khan must remember that I might not have been with him for 10 years in the opposition if I had some personal interests and now he should be careful and refrain from leveling baseless allegations against others otherwise a reality about him would unfold automatically,” he added.