PTI warns caretakers of treason charge if they 'overstep mandate'.

LAHORE -- The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on TueAsday warned that all those becoming part of the caretaker set-ups - including the Punjab chief minister and Election CommiAssion of Pakistan - and overstepping their mandate would be tried under sedition charge once the PTI returns to power.

The warning came from PTI leaders Fawad ChauAdhry and Hammad Azhar, two days after Mohsin Raza Naqvi, a Pakistan DemocAratic Movement (PDM) nominee, was sworn in as caretaker chief executive of the province.

Talking to reporters outside the Zaman Park residence of PTI Chairman Imran Khan, Mr Chaudhry said the PTI owes it to the people that everyone and anyone trying to influence, looting the nation's wealth and overstepping their mandate, should be punished under Article 6 of the Constitution.

He later included the governors of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the same list, saying both had not announced the date for elections since the dissolution of the assemblies in the two provinces over 10 days ago.

'By doing so, both are subverting the Constitution and exposing themselves to a trial under the same article. They better behave constitutionally,' he warned both governors.

'We have written to the Election Commission that those responsible for the worst kind of human rights violations against PTI workers on May 25 are being brought back to Punjab. If they return and try to influence elections, they will be chased legally once the PTI is back in power.

'They must keep in mind that power does not stay permanently with anyone. You may be in power for three months, six months or a year (a thinly-veiled reference to widespread speculation that the tenure of caretaker set-ups may be exteAnded on one pretext and the other). Power will ultimaAtely fade and the PTI will not,' Mr Chaudhry said.

LAHORE: PTI leaders Ejaz Chaudhry, Hammad Azhar and others lead the protest against ECP's selection of Mohsin Naqvi as interim Punjab CM, at Lower Mall, on Tuesday. -Arif Ali / White Star

Hammad Azhar said: 'It has just been decided at the party level that all those trying to influence or steal public mandate in the next elections will surely be dealt under the subversion provision of the Constitution. The PTI will not spare anyone trying to violate the 'sacred right' of people to choose a government of their choice.'

Mr Chaudhry added that the country had already experienced political meltdown as 65 per cent seats of parliament stood vacant now. 'Economic meltdown is...