PML-N leader Malik Ahmad Khan on Sunday alleged that the PTI was “inciting hate” against government officials, calling on the caretaker government to take action against the party.

He made the remarks at a press conference in Lahore a day after Rawalpindi Commissioner Liaquat Ali Chattha accused the Election Commission of Pakistan and Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa of involvement in ‘rigging’ the general elections — a claim denied by the electoral watchdog and the top judge.

The allegations came almost a week after the Feb 8 polls on a day when PTI and other political parties had decided to kick-start their nationwide anti-rigging campaign, claiming they were deprived of their mandate through “massive rigging”.

Speaking to the media in Lahore alongside PML-N leaders Uzma Bukhari and Ata Tarar, Malik Ahmad said that the Rawalpindi commissioner — who had tendered his resignation after yesterday’s revelations — was a “non-party” to the electoral process.

“Neither is he the returning officer nor is he the district returning officer (DRO) […] he has no connection to the entire electoral process. He does not even have any interactive position with the ECP.

“He does not have any relation with the election or the tabulation of poll results. He has nothing to do with the entire process,” the PML-N leader said.

“With the background of all this, a dangerous campaign was started where the photos of various DROs and their families and their children were exposed on social media,” he said.

“Hate was being incited in a way that was a threat to their lives,” he said.

The PML-N leader said that this followed a pattern similar to the May 9 saga, when violent protests had broken out in the country following the arrest of PTI founder Imran Khan.

“These people are not refraining from their anarchic behaviour. May 9 was a black day in our history,” he said as he recalled the violence.

He further said that an employee of the state was the “steel framework of the state machinery”.

“You are threatening them, you are threatening their lives. You are saying that the workers of a political party go after them, stop them, attack their offices and homes, you are inciting this,” he said as he called on the government to “preempt this”.

Addressing the caretaker government, he said: “What are you waiting for? If you think that there will be no consequences of the incitement, then we are living in cuckoo’s land.”

The PML-N leader said that Colombia’s infamous cocaine baron Pablo Escobar had acquired his political position through his “cartels and mafia”.

“The PTI has the same character. There is no difference,” he said. He further said that the party was “harassing” government officials, adding that this was just one example of where the party adopted its ideals from.