LAHORE/ KARACHI: Ousted prime minister and PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif has claimed that his ouster from the premiership in 2017 was the result of ‘dubious accountability system and political victimisation’.

In 2018, an accountability court sentenced the three-time premier to seven-year rigorous imprisonment after it found him guilty in Al-Azizia reference, one of the three graft cases filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in line with the apex court order.

Prior to his sentence, the Supreme Court disqualified him in Panama Papers case and ordered NAB to file corruption references against him.

In a tweet from his official handle on Saturday, he quoted an example of former Islamabad High Court (IHC) judge Shaukat Aziz Siddqui, who was removed from his post following controversial speech against state institutions.

The statement comes two days after Nawaz, who is currently in London since last year undergoing treatment of his undiagnosed illness, banned his party members from holding off-the-book meetings with military and intelligence officials.

“This is the reality of the accountability through which three-time elected prime minister was victimised, sentenced and declared absconder,” Nawaz wrote on his official Twitter handle.

He said in a bid to punish him the country has been “drowned” and added that no one would be allowed to create further mess in the country.

Nawaz also held a telephonic conversation with JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman earlier today.

Sources privy to the development told The Express Tribune that the two opposition leaders discussed options to topple the PTI-led government which also includes resigning from the assemblies.

They also exchanged views on appointing the head of newly-formed Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) alliance of opposition parties and reportedly also approved the formation of committee to decide the matter of stepping down from legislative assemblies, the sources added.

Meanwhile, PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif while endorsing the no holds barred speech of his elder brother and party supremo at the last week’s APC has said that it was in line with the law and the Constitution.

Speaking to senior journalists and media persons in Lahore, Shehbaz set aside the impression that he believed in politics of reconciliation. He also reiterated that the decisions taken during the opposition’s multi-party confab will be implemented in letter and spirit.

The former Punjab chief minister said the incumbent government could not be allowed to rule anymore and should be sent packing. He also alleged that Prime Minister Imran Khan was trying his best to get him arrested.