Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif trolled for weird gestures during meet with Putin. Watch video

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif faced heavy trolling on social media after a video of his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit went viral.

During the bilateral talks, Sharif thanked Putin for supporting Pakistan and maintaining a “balancing act” in the region. He acknowledged Moscow’s strong ties with India, saying, “I respect your relationship with India and it is perfectly fine, but we also want to build strong relations. These relations will be supplementary and complementary for the betterment of the region.”

His remarks came amid growing criticism from Washington over India and China’s continued oil imports from Russia.


However, it wasn’t his statement but his odd hand movements that sparked a wave of memes. Many users mocked his animated gestures, with one writing, “He doesn’t know Putin hates finger gestures… God save Sharif.” Others poked fun at his outfit, joking, “The relationships can wait but someone needs to tell him how to wear a trouser.”

Earlier, another clip from the SCO summit in Beijing also went viral, showing Sharif awkwardly standing as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Putin walked past him. The scene triggered a flood of sarcastic reactions, with one user calling it a classic case of “Begani Shaadi mein Abdullah Deewana.”


Sharif’s awkward run-ins on the global stage are not new. At the 2022 SCO summit in Uzbekistan, he struggled with his translation headset during a bilateral with Putin, repeatedly failing to adjust it properly. The mishap drew a brief chuckle from the Russian leader and delayed the start of the meeting, with Sharif at one point asking aides for help. The clip, widely circulated online, quickly became fodder for ridicule back home.

The following year, in June 2023, Sharif once again went viral after he was filmed taking an umbrella from a female staffer at the Global Financing Pact summit in Paris, leaving her unprotected in the rain. The gesture was slammed online as insensitive.

Then in January 2024, he found himself at the center of yet another controversy when he posted a congratulatory note to former US President Donald Trump on his “return to the White House.” The post, made while X (formerly Twitter) was banned in Pakistan, was flagged as both inaccurate and embarrassing, fueling fresh criticism.