LONDON: Former prime minister and PML-N sup­re­­me leader Nawaz Sharif has said Pakistan would have been on track to host a G20 summit had the mo­­mentum set by his government in 2017 continued.

He expressed this view outside Stanhope Ho­­use on Monday, when he was asked by reporters to comment on the recently concluded summit in Delhi.

“If the 2017 momentum was maintained, Pakistan would have been counted in the G20, and the summit would have been hosted in Pakistan,” he said, respon­ding to a question about India’s rising economic and geopolitical prominence in the region.

The G20 summit concl­u­ded over the weekend in In­­­­dia, with world leaders in­­c­l­u­­ding US President Joe Bi­­den and UK PM Rishi Sun­ak, among others attending.

Mr Sharif was referring to his disqualification from office after a Supreme Court ruling in 2017 held he is no longer Sadiq and Ameen for failing to disclose receivables in a Dubai-based company.

Mr Sharif also mentio­ned that Mon­day was the death anniversary of his wife, Kuls­oom Nawaz, and requested for pray­ers for the departed soul.

Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2023