- Thursday, May 01, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday (15) faced an awkward situation during a meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, as he struggled to plug in his earphone while the Russian leader waited.
Sharif, who replaced Imran Khan as the prime minister of the South Asian nation earlier this year, eventually sought help asking “can anyone help me?” while trying his best to plug in the device. Putin watched the entire episode wearing a smile.
A video of the incident surfaced on social media showing Sharif’s earphone not fitting before an aid came to his rescue. Putin waited patiently before the meeting commenced.
Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif faces an awkward moment as he tries to plug in his earphone during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the #SCOSummit2022 in Samarkand.
"Can somebody help me," Sharif asks. (Source: Ria Novosti) pic.twitter.com/tdz7YKXEhy
— Dhairya Maheshwari (@dhairyam14) September 15, 2022
During their talks, Putin told Sharif that Russia can supply gas to the South Asian nation as the required infrastructure is already in place. According to Russia’s state-run TASS news agency, Putin also told the Pakistani leader over resolving the problem in Afghanistan.
“The issue is about pipeline gas supplies from Russia to Pakistan…part of the infrastructure has already been created, meaning Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan. We have to solve the Afghan issue,” the Russian leader was quoted as saying.
The summit, which concludes on Friday (16), has two sessions — one restricted session only for the SCO member states and another extended session for the observers and the special invitees of the chair country, Uzbekistan.
The SCO has eight full members, including India, China, Russia, Pakistan and the four central Asian republics of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. India and Pakistan became its full members in 2017, 16 years after it was founded.
Twitter reacted to the video showing Sharif struggling with his earphone. While some sympathised saying the older generation is less tech-savvy, others made fun of Pakistan.
Here are some reactions:
This can happen with https://t.co/yU7f4UBolE seems awkward but is not embarrassing
— Esskay @punjabimunda (@Surinder1531954) September 16, 2022
Its because in Pakistan there might be no headphones.. pak PM might not be used to this.. they are only involved in …..,…………..
— Rakesh Patro (@RakeshPatro007) September 16, 2022
When someone uses a lot chinese tech and forgets to use the real tech invented by soviet ✅?
— Adi | Aadhyatm.eth/.tez ?? (@avframes) September 16, 2022
PPM only speaks doesn't listen. In madrasa they do not teach techno gadget handling.
— raj sharlan (@RajSharlan) September 16, 2022
Agree, I mean old generation with these tech devices, sometime they find it difficult to cope up with.
At least he asked for help without any hesitation…. which is great!— Tejinder (@Tejinder_dass) September 16, 2022
