PTI leaders asked to silence colleagues ‘airing dirty laundry’

The directive from provincial general secretary Ali Asghar Khan drew criticism from senior leaders, including former chief minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur and ex-speaker Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani, who criticised the party directives in audio clips circulated on social media. “In the light of directions from President PTI Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, all the members of parliamentary and political coordination committee are directed to avoid direct and indirect contact with any member who has taken party internal affairs on media, tried to pressurise the party and weakened its discipline,” the advisory issued by the MNA Ali Asghar Khan stated. It also stopped the committee members from meeting any delegation which might include members who publicly criticised the party. “Those who are trying to pressurise the [party] by making media statements and bringing party internal affairs in public should neither be encouraged nor discussed at any level,” it said. It said that the members of the parliamentary and political coordination committee were directed to strictly implement the directive. Last week, a group of PTI lawmakers, in a letter addressed to the PTI interim chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, expressed concerns over “lack of efforts” by the leadership for the release of the party’s incarcerated founder, governance issues in the province and demanded a comprehensive action plan for the purpose. In response to the directive, multiple audio clips made rounds on social media. In a leaked audio messa