Former premier Nawaz Sharif has answered 55 questions in the Avenfield properties reference before the accountability court.

According to details, prior to recording his statement today during the hearing, Nawaz called Supreme Court's July 28 verdict, which led to his disqualification, "inappropriate" and "unnecessary".

"The SC's verdict affected my right to a fair trial," Nawaz said, adding that it was his right as per Article 10 of the Constitution (Right to Fair Trial).

The Avenfield reference, pertaining to the Sharif family's London properties, is among three filed against Sharif family by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) last year on the Supreme Court's directives.

Speaking about the Joint Investigation Team, which was formed by the Supreme Court to probe assets of Sharif family, Nawaz remarked that he had reservations over the members of the investigation team.

Nawaz also raised objections over all six members of the JIT, adding that some of them were affiliated with different political parties.

The JIT comprised six members, including its head Federal Investigation Agency Additional Director Wajid Zia, Amer Aziz of the State Bank of Pakistan, SECP Executive Director Communication Bilal Rasool, Irfan Naeem Mangi of National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Brigadier (retd) Nauman Saeed of the Inter-Services Intelligence and Brigadier Kamran Khurshid from the Military Intelligence.

On Bilal Rasool, the former prime minister shared that he is the nephew of former Governor Punjab Mian Azhar.

Nawaz further said that Azhar's son Hamid Azhar was photographed with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairperson Imran Khan on August 24, 2017. “The picture was taken at Imran's house in Bani Gala.”

He also said that Rasool has criticised the government of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz in the past and that his wife is a fervent supporter of PTI. 

With regard to Zia, Nawaz said that the JIT head employed the services of his cousins for the probe. During the JIT investigation, a controversy was stirred after Zia had hired the services of his cousin’s British law firm to investigate assets of the Sharif family.

The PML-N leader said that Zia’s biases in the investigation have been evident from the start. 

Nawaz also remarked that it was inappropriate to include officers from MI and ISI in the JIT, adding that the JIT report was affected by the current strained civilian-military relations.