A video went viral where Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif’s clumsiness made Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin burst into a laugh at the 22nd summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) at Samarkand.

In the video, the Pakistan’s prime minister can be seen struggling to put on his ear piece as the device couldn’t be placed on Sharif’s ears, after which he asked for help. As the dialogue between the nations commenced, Sharif’s earpiece again fell from his ears which made the Russian president slip out an audible chuckle.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister, since then, has been subjected to a lot of flak on social media where, largely the workers of former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party, proclaimed that the incident was an embarrassment for the country.

After Covid-19 impacting everything and forcing everything onto virtual platforms, the SCO 2022 summit was the first in-person meet in SCO history. The summit will witness the attendants of eight member nations, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The SCO is the successor to the Shanghai Five, a mutual security agreement formed in 1996 between the People’s Republic of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and later on was expanded to Pakistan, India and Iran subsequently.

During the dialogue between Russia and Pakistan, Putin expressed to the Pakistan’s Prime Minister that Russia is ready to extend gas supply to Pakistan as the necessary infrastructures have are already established. Russia and Pakistan have other ambitious projects in the pipeline, largely in the energy sector.

Another video of a similar nature went viral back in January where Prime minister Narendra Modi abruptly paused his speech at the virtual world economic forum 2022. In the video, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was delivering his speech but he suddenly paused as he asked the facilitator if he was audible.

Many believe the abrupt stop at the prime minister’s speech was caused due to a teleprompter issue. The prime minister was trolled and scrutinized by the opposition as the hashtag Teleprompter PM trended in twitter.

Leader of Opposition Shehbaz Sharif is likely to take over the charge of the next Prime Minister of Pakistan after Imran Khan lost the no-confidence motion on Saturday. Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government was shown the doors with 174 votes in favour of the no-confidence motion.

Coincidentally, no Prime Minister in the country has completed their five-year term in office and Imran Khan is the latest one to be added to the list. Now, all eyes are on Shehbaz Sharif, the president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party who is likely to hold the charge of the position.

Shehbaz Sharif’s Political Career

Shehbaz Sharif is the younger brother of three-time former Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif. In 1990, he was elected to the National Assembly. Following the 1999 military coup, both Shahbaz and Nawaz were forced to flee to Saudi Arabia for several years. Shehbaz Sharif has been charged with corruption, just like his elder brother.

He returned to Pakistan in 2007, and was nominated for PML-N president in 2017, but was barred from taking office after Nawaz Sharif was found guilty of hiding assets connected to the Panama Papers.

In 2018, he was nominated for the office of Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly after he lost elections to Imran Khan.

Why is Shehbaz Sharif called Man of Action?

During his three years as Chief Minister of Pakistan’s Punjab province, he has collaborated extensively with China on Beijing-funded economic projects as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) plan. For this, he has earned appreciation from Chinese authorities on multiple occasions for being a man of action.

Shehbaz Sharif is recognized for his can-do administration style and friendly ties with Pakistan’s military, which holds the defense and foreign affairs sectors.

According to reports, outgoing Chinese consul general Long Dingbin referred to Sharif as an old friend of China while China Vice-Minister Zheng Xiaosong gave Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif the title of Shahbaz Speed for completing projects before schedule.

With Imran Khan losing the trust vote in the National Assembly on 9 April, Sharif said that we will not take revenge on anyone, we will not do injustice to anyone and we will not put anyone in jail, the law will take its own path. Justice will prevail in Pakistan.

Pakistan’s new prime minister will be declared today at 2 pm PST. Reportedly, the session of the National Assembly will be called to nominate the new prime minister and the session will not be prorogued. Imran Khan’s government, Tehreek-e-Insaf, failed the no-confidence motion filed against him by the Opposition.

The acting speaker said that 174 members recorded their votes and all were in favour of the resolution. Imran Khan has become the first Pakistan PM to lose the trust vote. 

Following the no-confidence motion, Pakistan Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Fawad Hussain in a tweet said that it is a sad day for Pakistan. He further wrote return of looters a good man sent home.

Have a look at the tweet:

Ahead of the no-confidence motion voting, the National Assembly Speaker, Asad Qaiser, and Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri resigned from the parliament. Pakistan Attorney General, Khalid Javed Khan also resigned from the post. Principal Secretary to Pakistan Prime Minister, Azam Khan has been removed from office and has been transferred to Establishment Division.

As per reports, the Leader of Opposition, Shehbaz Sharif is likely to be the next prime minister of Pakistan. Shehbaz Sharif is the younger brother of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Born on September 23, 1951, he began his political career in 1988 after he got elected to the Provincial Assembly of Punjab in the general election. In 2018, he was nominated for the office of Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly after he lost elections to Imran Khan.