“When Shahid Afridi clarified that he has not given any such statement related to May 9 that has been attributed to him and clarified that it was fake news, then it was not appropriate to have a criticism of him,” he said in an interview with Shaukat Piracha on his show Rubaroo aired on Aaj News on Monday.

“Because we have no competition with him [Afridi]. He is an apolitical person and we have a big political party,” Ali said, “Shahid Afridi himself considers Imran Khan his brother.”

He was responding to a query related to the criticism of PTI leaders by the party’s social media handlers after a post by Afridi that was linked to the political party.

According to Ali, the party was facing bigger challenges and inflation and Imran Khan’s release was among their priorities.

It merits here to mention that Ali and another party leader Sher Afzal Marwat have not praised the party’s social media pages after the former cricketer’s post.

But in the interview, the party’s MNA praised the social media team for engaging the party when many leaders were behind bars following the May 9 incidents.