In the recent by-elections, one politician made a unique record as he won the by-poll for the third time on April 21. However, he is the only lawmaker who has never won a general election in his entire life.
Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) leader Shoaib Siddiqui has become the only politician who won the by-polls for the third time, and he contested three general elections but unfortunately lost them all for his provincial seat.
Siddiqui has contested every election in the same constituency but on the ticket of a different political party every time. This time, he contested the by-election on the ticket of IPP from PP-149 Lahore. In the February 8 election, IPP head Aleem Khan won the election on provincial seat from PP-149.
The present PP 149 comprises areas like Garhi Shahu, Empress Road, Basti Syden Shah, some sides touching Dharampura, and parts of the city that pertain to the Walton Board. Earlier, Shoaib Siddiqui won the by-election in 2004 and 2015.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has officially responded to the allegations made by Aleem Khan, President Istehkam –e-Pakistan Party (IPP) against Imran Khan in Saleem’s Safi Geo News program “Jirga”.
PTI said that Aleem Khan made false allegations against former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife. The statement read that Aleem Khan has made false allegation against Imran khan to cover up his crimes.
The spokesperson further added that Aleem Khan committed fraud of Rs50 billion in the name of private housing scheme.
The statement further said that the party IPP has already flopped.
The spokesperson of PTI also said that the Aleem Khan’s allegations against a woman like former First Lady Bushra Bibi who has nothing to do with politics are “saddening”.
PTI is more popular than ever, the party insisted, and is ready for elections, the statement added.
Aleem Khan on Saturday appeared on Geo News programme Jirga with Saleem Safi , and among other things, made startling revelations about former Chief Minister Punjab Usman Buzdar. During the show, the former Pakistan Tehreek-e-insaf (PTI) leader also read out old whatsapp conversations with PTI chairman Imran Khan.
Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) President Abdul Aleem Khan appeared on Geo News programme Jirga with Saleem Safi on Tuesday, making startling revelations about former Chief Minister Punjab Usman Buzdar.
During the show, the former Pakistan Tehreek-e-insaf (PTI) leader read out old whatsapp conversations with PTI chairman Imran Khan.
Here is a transcript of the Whatsapp conversation between Imran Khan and Aleem Khan:
16 January 2022:
Imran Khan: Why is Samaa conducting a campaign against Buzdar? Don’t you know it’s hurting PTI more than him?
Aleem Khan replied to Khan’s message by sending him the twitter trend “corrupt buzdar” and wrote “I know your love for him but unfortunately he is definitely both corrupt and incompetent. Whatever he is doing in Punjab is bringing bad name to you.
“You were our only hope and you are letting it go only because of some stupid corrupt man.”
To which Khan said Aleem Khan to quote an incident where Buzdar was indulging in corruption. “Tahir Khurshaid was corrupt and removed. Can you give me one concrete example of his corruption?”
To which Aleem said: ” Sir today you are prime minister you don’t need me to verify. Ask ISI’s special branch (Intelligence Bureau) IB, you will have thousands.
“For me, I have given my ten years with full honesty and commitment to a man I still believe was honest and trustworthy and the only man who could have taken our country to heights,” said Aleem Khan in the text.
“I just feel humiliated when I see my party going down everyday because of one man, and I am not a hypocrite and will always be honest with you.”
To which Imran replied that he had asked IB to investigate allegations against the CM. “So far apart from some posting transfers there is nothing. I have asked ISI to give their input also. But Aleem Khan, you know the circumstances in which he was made the CM, yet you have been the most vocal critic of him on every forum.
“How does that help PTI? criticism from within hurts far more than the opposition and unlike Pervaiz Kahttak, he does whatever i tell him.”
Former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders Awn Chaudhry and Abdul Aleem Khan have dismissed reports that they are forming a new political party, reports Raees Ansari for Geo News.
The news report states that Chaudhry clarified that former PTI stalwart Jahangir Khan Tareen, Aleem and Chaudhry Sarwar are “not forming a new political party”.
“Currently, we are part of the government and are standing with it. Tareen group is an ally of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and will remain an ally,” Chaudhry said.
It was also reported that senior politician Aleem Khan denied joining a political party or forming a new one, saying: “There is no truth in the reports of my inclusion in a new political party.”
“I am neither a part of any political party nor have any intentions to become one,” Aleem said adding that he has good ties with former PTI leaders Chaudhry Sarwar and Jahangir Tareen but has no intentions of becoming active in politics.
It is pertinent to mention here that Aleem and Tareen were the most prominent leaders in the PTI’s early years. Internal differences got in the way with Tareen first and then Aleem parting ways with the PTI chief Imran Khan.
Former Prime Minister and Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-insaf (PTI), Imran Khan, in an exclusive interview to Dawn, talked about his relationship with Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Qamar General Javed Bajwa.
“The army chief wanted me to appoint Aleem Khan [as CM Punjab] and I wouldn’t. Because not only were there NAB cases against him, he had occupied and sold land worth millions belonging to the government,” Imran Khan said while discussing how his infamously close relationship with the Chief went sour.
“We always thought they were just allegations. And he defended himself. But when I asked the vice chairman of the LDA [about Aleem], he showed me on a map how Aleem Khan had occupied government land. This was around the end of my second year, and beginning of the third of my government, said Khan while answering a question why did he include Aleem in his party.
“They were organised, you could get their help, we were on the same page regarding foreign policy. It was just the last six months, the issue of them making deals with these crooks when they should be behind bars,” he added.
Imran Khan talked about former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who also had a falling out with the establishment. “The army was going after these people before I came to power. 95 per cent of these cases preceded my government. The Nawaz Sharif case, the Avenfield case… he would not have got convicted had the army not provided the two brigadiers in the JITs — that was before me.”
Admitting that he doesn’t know about the internal politics of the army, Imran emphasized that his relationship with them was “going well”, however, “Later, I discovered there was a big issue going on about the next army chief. I had never ever thought about who the army chief would be in November — why would I care, if it’s on merit? It should be the best person. It matters to the Sharifs and Zardari… but not to me.”
Imran further said that he was hopeful that the Army would help him when he will try to bring rule of law in the country, adding “NAB was controlled by the army. I couldn’t do anything. They would say, ‘yes there are cases, we are working on it’. But nothing would happen. I discovered that, actually, the establishment controlled NAB and proceeded as it wanted… It was to control politicians by having files about their corruption. They would squeeze someone, but then he would be out on bail.”
Talking about the allegations that General Faiz Hamid is his man, Khan said, “General Faiz was the only general I knew, because he was working with me as the ISI chief… and I didn’t know anyone else. I told Gen Bajwa ‘I will take your recommendations because I don’t know the other guys’, but at the time my worry was Afghanistan. I feared it would go into civil war. And I felt Americans would blame us and we would be sanctioned. Ashraf Ghani told me there are 300,000 Afghan soldiers and they will be outnumbered. Not just Ashraf Ghani, ISI was telling us there will be civil war [in Afghanistan]. I wanted Gen Faiz to stay till the winter till the transition happened,” he stated.
Aleem Khan and Awn Chaudhry met Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif separately at his London residence.
Aleem Khan didn’t talk to the media and left right after the meeting. Refusing to give details about the meeting, Aleem Khan said, “I will avoid talking about politics.”
“Let’s talk about the weather. The weather in London will not have any impact on the politics in Pakistan,” he said smilingly to reporters.
Chaudhry, who is also the PM’s advisor on sports and tourism, said that Pakistan needs Nawaz Sharif at this critical juncture, adding that the nation would hear good news very soon.
“Don’t ask me anything today. We pray that Nawaz Sharif comes to Pakistan soon,” he told the media. The Punjab government will crumble under its own weight, he predicted in reply to a question.
PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz was present in the meeting with Nawaz Sharif.
The Election Commission Pakistan (ECP) has revealed the details of assets held by lawmakers of the Punjab Assembly.
Hamza Shehbaz
The ECP reported that Chief Minister (CM) Punjab Hamza Shehbaz owns assets worth more than Rs410 million, out of which Rs130 million is attributed to 11 houses that the CM owns. He also owns 3 agricultural properties that are valued at Rs30 million with another 2 gifted to him by his brother, Suleman Shehbaz.
The CM’s first wife Mehrunnisah owns assets worth Rs3.5 million while his other wife, Rabia owns assets worth Rs37.5 million. Hamza, according to the documents submitted to ECP, is also in debt of nearly Rs100 million.
Sardar Usman Buzdar
The former chief minister of Punjab, Sardar Usman Buzdar, has over a dozen properties to his name valued at Rs35 million reports the ECP. He is also the owner of 3 tractors and 2 cars, one that was passed down from his father.
Aleem Khan
Ex-provincial minister Aleem Khan has assets valued at over Rs700 million to his name.
Chaudhary Pervaiz Elahi
The ECP reports that Punjab Assembly speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi owns assets worth over Rs200 million and non-agricultural land valued at over Rs60 million. According to the documents submitted to the ECP, Pervaiz Elahi owns a flour mill that was valued at Rs9.9 million while his wife holds assets worth Rs100 million.
PTI dissident Abdul Aleem Khan on Monday criticised Prime Minister Imran Khan and accused him of not being “sincere to the nation”.
Once a close aide of the PTI chairman, Aleem has grown disillusioned over the past few years and recently took a position against the party by deciding to support the joint opposition in the Punjab Assembly.
Talking to the media in Lahore today, he said he regretted dedicating 10 years of his life to the party. “I have supported the PTI with great loyalty, hard work and kept my ego aside. We thought there would be a Naya Pakistan in the face of Imran Khan,” he said.
“I’m sad that the person I spent 10 years of my life for is not sincere with the nation.”
Aleem criticised the premier over a number of issues ranging from the National Accountability Bureau “hounding” him to his insistence on retaining Usman Buzdar as the chief minister and then the nomination of PML-Q leader Pervez Elahi as the new Punjab CM.
Aleem rued that he had been branded a “traitor to the PTI” as he called out his critics and claimed that no one in the party had sacrificed more than him.
In a similar vein, he issued a challenge to the prime minister to bring forth any evidence of corruption against him, for which he said he was imprisoned for six months.
“Why wasn’t a reference made against me? What proof do you have? Bring it in front of the nation and tell them that these were Aleem Khan’s misdoings and corruption … I promise that if I turn out to be lying then I will shoot myself.” he said.
The PTI dissident levelled a number of allegations against Buzdar as well, saying that he was involved in bribery over transfers and postings in Punjab. He also accused Farah Khan, an associate of the first lady, of being complicit in these transfers.
He said any investigation would uncover who she (Farah) was forwarding the money of her alleged corruption while responding to a question about whether the first lady was also involved in supporting Farah.
Aleem criticised the prime minister for Sunday’s dissolution of the National Assembly as well, questioning what had stopped him from doing so before. He said that the premier could not dissolve the assemblies once a no-confidence resolution was submitted against him.
Actor Haroon Shahid took to his twitter handle to call out Aleem for his shocking remarks against Imran Khan.
#surprise@abdul_aleemkhan I remember working for you when I used to work at a digital media agency and we were running your social media pages. Bohat si baatain Hain waisay WhatsApp par meray paas pic.twitter.com/h5zYbjMhOe
The Verna hero stated that he has many proofs against Aleem since the time he was working for the politician’s digital company, which he might spill to the media.
I think it would only make the workers and supporters more charged up if Khan Saab publicly expresses regret for all the people who had to vote for the likes of Amir Liaqat, Aleem Khan, Noor Alam etc. because electable politics was the need of the hour. I had to vote for Aleem https://t.co/tHj5IbUDIT
The Qayamat actor also express his regret on voting for Aleem in the past because of the PTI factor.
In April 2021, the Amanat star lauded the efforts of Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar for keeping the city of Lahore well-maintained.
“On a drive this morning I realized how well Lahore is maintained,” wrote the Qayamat actor on social media. “Yes, there was a phase when there were issues with the waste management but this morning was a pleasant surprise to see horticulture, waste management, and traffic police all doing their job well.”
“Well done Buzdar,” he added.
Haroon further said: “I’ve started to realise that Buzdar and his team have been working without many PR antics and their work is now showing.”
“There’s a whole PR cell working against him both from within and outside but frankly he’s slowly defying them with his work,” he added.
I’ve started to realize that Buzdar and his team have been working without many PR antics and their work is now showing. There’s a whole PR cell working against him both from within and outside but frankly he’s slowly defying them with his work.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) disgruntled Jahangir Khan Tareen (JKT) group leader Aun Chaudhry claimed that Defense Minister Pervez Khattak contacted him last night (Friday) and urged Chaudhry not to take decisions immediately as the government will soon update them regarding the latest developments.
According to Geo News, Tareen group leaders announced that they wouldn’t meet the ruling party’s members after which Governor Sindh Imran Ismail tried to contact Jahangir Tareen but he was unable to get in touch with him.
However, the disgruntled group is holding meetings with the Opposition.
Recently, Minister for Water Resources and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q)’s leader Moonis Elahi went to London, where both Tareen and Nawaz Sharif are currently residing.
Earlier this month, Tareen was discharged from a private clinic. To convey his best wishes, Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif sent him a bouquet.
Previously, Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s old friend Aleem Khan joined the JKT group. Later, he visited Tareen and PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Nawaz Sharif and disgruntled Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Aleem Khan have reportedly met in London.
As per media reports, Aleem met Nawaz on Wednesday for three hours. Former finance minister Ishaq Dar and Nawaz Sharif’s sons also attended the meeting.
Sources privy to the matter have revealed that Nawaz and Khan have decided to work together.
Aleem left for London on Wednesday to meet Jahangir Khan Tareen and Nawaz Sharif. It was reported that Aleem would discuss the future course of action with Tareen for the group as the Opposition has submitted the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan.
Moreover, reports of differences between the Tareen group and Aleem Khan have also come to the surface.
In a report published in The News, it was revealed: “Jahangir Khan Tareen is avoiding meeting Aleem Khan because he is facing pressure from some hard-line members of his group. As such, there has been no contact between Jahangir Tareen and Aleem Khan. The hard-line members of the Tareen group believe that joining hands with the Aleem Khan group was tantamount to hijacking the Tareen group.”
