SCO, Earphones, Putin: The Combo That Left Shehbaz Sharif Red-Faced Again

The embarrassment doesn't seem to end for Shehbaz Sharif, the prime minister of Pakistan. He has re-lived a 2022 experience from Uzbekistan, three years during his latest trip to China, with an earphone fumble returning to haunt the Pakistani leader.

Shehbaz Sharif met Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Beijing. As they sat down for talks, he was seen struggling with his earphones while the Russian leader was trying to show him how to put them on with a hand gesture.

Video: Russian President Vladimir Putin laughs as Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif struggles with headphones during a bilateral meeting in Beijing, China.

The visuals, which have now gone viral, mimic a similar incident from 2022 involving the Pakistan Prime Minister and… pic.twitter.com/6aiMCAtd8G

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Viral videos show Mr Sharif's headset slipping off despite him trying to fix it to his ears. Putin was seen smiling as he struggled for a few seconds. Trying to save him from embarrassment on the global stage, the Russian leader picked up his own earphone to show the Pakistani President how to put it on.

"Shehbaz Sharif's headphone slip in Beijing sparks laughter from Putin. Again," noted an X user, sharing a video of the earphone hiccup.

This is not the first time Mr Sharif has struggled with earphones. During the 2020 summit in Uzbekistan, he faced the same struggle before the same leader, Mr Putin. His earphones kept slipping off, just when their discussion was about to begin, and it went on despite his officials trying to help him fix them.

The video of the fumble had gone viral and drawn criticism from foreign commentators as well as those from rival parties in Pakistan. "The surprising thing is that Shehbaz Sharif is the prime minister of the 220 million population of the world," comedian Jimmy Fallon had joked.

Mr Sharif was among the heads of the nine member nations who attended the SCO summit on August 31-September 1 in Tianjin, besides Chinese President Xi Jinping. Even there, his participation became a subject for meme-makers. A viral video of him waiting in a corner while Prime Minister Narendra Modi walked past him with Putin is being seen as the Pakistani leader being snubbed on a global platform.

The SCO's condemnation of the Pahalgam terror attack, in the presence of PM Modi, has also been billed as an embarrassing moment for Mr Sharif.

During his meeting with Mr Putin, Mr Sharif offered Islamabad's "supplementary and complementary" relations with Moscow. He acknowledged the Russian leader's "balancing act" in the Southeast Asian region and said that Pakistan "respects" the India-Russia ties. "That is perfectly fine. But we also want to build very strong relations," he told Putin.