Maintaining silence over party issues for sake of unity, founder's respect: Shehryar Afridi

• "I can't tell you the pain I am undergoing," says Afridi.
• PTI leader says party’s code of conduct should be adopted.
• He says he waiting for the right time.
  

PESHAWAR: Expressing annoyance over the political party’s internal affairs, Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) leader Shehryar Afridi on Sunday said he was maintaining silence for sake of party unity and in respect of founder Imran Khan.

Talking to PTI workers in Peshawar, Afridi said there were such things going on in the party that it would be better for him to keep quite. “I can't tell you the pain I am undergoing, however, the party’s code of conduct should be adopted (by us),” he said.

He said he was waiting for the right time to break the silence but added that there were some things over which keeping mum would be "criminal".

Afridi, who was denied a meeting with the party founder on May 24, said he was waiting to meet Imran Khan.

“Enough is enough, if we are sincere, we have to ensure the release of the PTI founder,” he said.

Since Khan’s incarceration after the violent incidents of May 9, multiple rifts have surfaced within the PTI.

Once it was between the political and legal leadership of the party and later Sher Afzal Marwat became the centre of discord.

Referring to the “internal strife” in the PTI, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar on March 25 claimed that there was a sheer power struggle within the ranks of Imran Khan-founded party that might lead to its disintegration or creation of a forward block.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Tarar had said that top PTI leaders like Gohar Ali Khan and Sher Afzal Khan were taking contradictory stances on different issues. He had regretted the “childish attitude” put up by the PTI which is a national party.

He had advised the PTI leaders to shun their internal politics and play their due role in strengthening the economy.