In this June 10, 2019 photo, former Pakistani president and the co-chairperson of Pakistan People's Party Asif Ali Zardari (second left) arrives for his bail appeal at Islamabad High Court. (FAROOQ NAEEM / AFP)

Pakistan’s anti-graft court indicted former President Asif Ali Zardari on charges of corruption, as the opposition groups accused the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan of persecution.

Azam Khan, a judge of an accountability court, formally framed charges against Zardari for buying assets overseas from undeclared sources, Muzafar Abbasi, a deputy prosecutor at the National Accountability Bureau, said by phone. Zardari, who is the co-Chairman of Pakistan Peoples Party party -- the second biggest opposition party in Parliament -- rejected the charges.

The indictment is the latest in a string of legal proceedings against premier Khan’s political opponents. A Pakistani court has jailed ex-premier Nawaz Sharif while many other opposition leaders are facing investigations by the nation’s anti-graft body. Both Zardari and Sharif, who is in London, are on bail and seeking medical treatment.

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