ISLAMABAD   -   The latest internal strife within the ranks of beleaguered Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has come to the fore since resignation of party secretary general Omar Ayub Khan and open criticism of former information minister Fawad Chaudhry against the incumbent leadership.

A day earlier, Omar Ayub had resigned from his position following criticism within the party for not pursuing a well-planned strategy to put efforts for the release of former prime minister Imran Khan from jail and on the alleged massive rigging in February 8 national elections.Prior to this, former PTI leader Chaudhry unleashed a volley of criticism against the present party leadership saying they had no political worth and no one even knew them. Going a one step ahead, he even became more harsh while criticizing the Information Secretary Raoof Hasan and Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Shibli Faraz alleging that the latter inflicted an irreparable loss to the party by blocking its protest movement against polls theft.

There is a resentment within PTI lawmakers and second or third tear leaders alike for the quite few weeks over the main leadership’s lackluster approach to lead a movement for the release of party founder Khan, other leaders and workers, besides not adopting an aggressive approach on the rigging issue. With few exceptions, most of the leadership had taken reins of the party after May 9 incidents of violence following the old ones parted ways with it to avoid cases and jail.

On the other hand, some old faces of the party like Ali Muhammad Khan and Shehryar Afridi had not quit the PTI despite facing police action against them, torture and jails. Most of them are now members of the National Assembly and have expressed their anger openly over confusion within the party leadership about its future plans in the wake of the ruling party’s claims that Khan would be kept in jail for a long period of time.

Even Afridi indicated on the floor of the National Assembly that he would no longer continue to work as a legislator. A day earlier, PTI workers even raised slogans of “shame, shame” against Omar Ayub outside the Islamabad district courts where he had gone to hear the verdict on the pleas of Imran Khan and his wife Bushra to suspend their sentences in the Iddat case.

Many old faces are clear-headed that the party cannot run a large scale anti-government movement without the release of Khan but they are still suspicious on the role of the leadership for its failure to mobilize the party supporters for at least massive political gatherings to push the government to give some relief to the jailed leaders, especially in Punjab.

In the case of those former leaders including Fawad Chaudhry and Imran Ismail who had quit the PTI in difficult times, there is a for and against argument within the party ranks whether they should be taken back into the party fold or not. The incumbent PTI office bearers see criticism of Chaudhry as part of his efforts to come back in the party and get some space, which is available as a result of the ongoing frustration among the lawmakers and other leaders.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that the main leadership is also fearful of Chaudhry, believing that he has the guts and ability to replace them if succeeded to make his entry into the PTI once again.