- Rubbishes ex-Rawalpindi commissioner’s rigging claims as ‘non-party to electoral process’
LAHORE: The PML-N leader Malik Ahmed Khan said on Sunday that it was history of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf that it did not accept the election results, accusing the party of “inciting hate” against government officials.
Speaking at a presser alongside PML-N leaders Uzma Bukhari and Ata Tarar in Lahore, Malik Ahmad said that the Rawalpindi commissioner — who had resigned from his post after yesterday’s revelations — was a “non-party” to the electoral process.
He said PTI forged propaganda of 35 punctures in the 2013 elections, but the party could not prove their allegations in court. He said allegations of former commissioner Rawalpindi were unfunded as he had no connection with the polling process. He claimed the former commissioner must provide proof of his statement. He said the anti-Pakistan campaign was being run by a group from abroad.
He said PTI was misguiding the public about election results after the statement of former Deputy Commissioner Liaqat Ali Chattah.
“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.
