ISLAMABAD: Former president and PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari on Friday expressed grave concern over the sentencing of party's Sindh MPA Syed Ali Nawaz Shah by an accountability court in Karachi.

Zardari termed Shah's conviction as misuse of judicial process for political victimisation.

A National Accountability Bureau (NAB) court convicted Ali Nawaz on Thursday along with his nephew, Syed Imtiaz Ali Shah, and cousin, former MNA Syed Khadim Ali Shah, in a case pertaining to land revenue fraud worth millions of rupees.

The veteran politician and PPP lawmaker was disqualified from holding membership of the legislature for ten years and was sentenced to five years in prison

"If such (political) victimisation becomes the norm and judicial processes are misused and manipulated to secure convictions of political opponents... things will go far too far," said the former president.

The Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairperson said that Ali Nawaz Shah enjoyed a good reputation among the political and social circles of Sindh and sending him to prison in a case registered years ago has again brought forth the old tradition of using federal institutions for political victimisation.

He further warned against the natural and inevitable consequences of what he called the regressive policy of political witch hunting and victimisation.

"Federal agencies should not push us to the point of no return," said Zardari while announcing to challenge the court verdict.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Sindh Qaim Ali Shah along with senior PPP leader Khursheed Shah met the jailed leader in prison today and pondered over challenging the NAB court verdict.

Ali Nawaz Shah, who was first elected as member of the Sindh Assembly in 1977 also served as federal minister for industries in 1989. He has been elected a Senator and MPA three times since then.

Belonging to Umerkot in Sindh, Shah was also a federal Minister during government of party’s former chairperson and iconic leader Benazir Bhutto.