Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday criticized the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) over its move to file a petition against lifelong disqualification saying that the legal body went to court for a “thief” who fled to London by “lying”.

Addressing the launch ceremony of the Sehat Insaf Card in the Bahawalpur division, PM Khan sarcastically remarked that the SCBA should file an adjacent petition to open the doors of all the jails.

Assailing former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, the premier said that both of his sons were “sitting in London on properties worth billions”.

Khan then directed his attack towards opposition leader and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif saying that people would learn the reason for Pakistan’s current condition, if they investigated the details of Shehbaz’s sugar mill case. He said everyone would be in shock, when they learn that a person earning Rs10,000 in Shehbaz’s son’s sugar mill had Rs4 billion in his name.

He added that if a “dacoit” was made in charge, he stole the nation’s wealth and laundered it abroad. He called on the nation to unite on the issue, saying the rule of law would not prevail until it did so.

The premier said, the two leaders who ruled for the past decade were frequently discussed by the world’s leading media outlets, their names appearing in leading newspapers and magazines.