Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter, Maryam Nawaz, appeared before an accountability court in Islamabad on Wednesday as a hearing into three corruption references filed against the Sharifs by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) went underway.

Strict security arrangments were made in the areas surrounding the accountability court ahead of the former premier's appearance there. Maryam's husband, retired Captain Muhammad Safdar also appeared before the court today.

During today's hearing, the prosecution presented two more witnesses before accountability judge Mohammad Bashir.

While recording his testimony in the court, Tasneem Khan, an officer at Inland Revenue, presented the income and wealth tax records of Nawaz and his children.

Speaking to the media after the hearing, Nawaz said that the judiciary had favoured Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan by giving him a clean chit in the disqualification case against him.

The former premier, who was disqualified by the Supreme Court on July 28, asked why Khan had made use of an amnesty scheme if he was innocent. Nawaz maintained that Khan had confessed to his crimes, yet the court had found him to be sadiq and ameen.

"I was disqualified for a having an iqama. They have not been able to prove any crime against me yet," Nawaz added.

NAB references

A five-member bench of the Supreme Court on July 28 had directed NAB to file references against Nawaz and his children in six weeks in the accountability court and directed the trial court to decide the references within six months.

The Supreme Court also assigned Justice Ijazul Ahsan a supervisory role to monitor the progress of the accountability court proceedings.

The former premier and his sons, Hassan and Hussain, have been named in all three NAB references, while Maryam and husband Safdar have been named only in the Avenfield reference.