Imran Khan, former prime minister and head of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), warned on Saturday that the South Asian country is on the verge of a "Sri Lanka moment" in which the populace will take to the streets against the "mafia" headed by Asif Zardari and the Sharif family.

Imran Khan claimed on Twitter that the Sharif family and Asif Zardari forced Pakistan to its knees in just over three months in order to protect their "illegally amassed" fortune.

"In just over three months the Zardari – Sharifs' mafia has brought the country to its knees politically and economically; simply to save their illegally accumulated wealth amassed over 30 years of plundering Pakistan. My question is: how long will state institutions continue to allow this?" he tweeted.

"We are not far from a Sri Lanka moment when our public pours out into streets," Imran Khan added.

Imran Khan made his comments as the Supreme Court heard a plea by the PML-Q leader Chaudhry Parvez Elahi contesting Dost Muhammad Mazari's decision on the Chief Minister's re-election in favour of Hamza Shahbaz a day earlier, according to ARY News.

After PTI and PML-Q petitioned the Supreme Court of Pakistan to overturn Hamza Shahbaz's victory in the election for Punjab Chief Minister, a three-member panel led by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial summoned the deputy speaker of the Punjab Assembly.