Nawaz says Pakistan would have hosted G20 summit if he had not been disqualified in 2017

LONDON: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif has said that Pakistan would have been on track to host a G20 Summit had the momentum set by his government in 2017 continued.

Nawaz made the comments to reporters outside Stanhope House in London when he questioned the recently concluded G20 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," said the three-time prime minister when asked about India's rising economic and geopolitical prominence in the region.

Nawaz made these remarks referring to his disqualification from office after a Supreme Court ruling in 2017 disqualified him from public office for not declaring the Iqama he had of his son Hasan Nawaz Sharif’s Dubai company. Nawaz has said that he was thrown out of office for not taking a salary from his son.

Nawaz has repeatedly made direct and veiled criticism against the judiciary in recent months, accusing Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial of bias and preferential treatment towards PTI Chairman Imran Khan. 

Publicly, Nawaz has accused former CJP Saqib Nisar and Asif Saeed Khosa, as well as former army chief Gen (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa Bajwa and ISI chief Lt Gen (retd) Faiz Hameed of engineering his removal from government. He has said that the "Gang of Five" — Saqib Nisar, Imran Khan, Gen Faiz, Gen Bajwa and Asif Saeed Khosa — were responsible for bringing Pakistan to this level.

The G20 summit concluded over the weekend in India, with world leaders including US President Joe Biden, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak among others attending.