At the SCO Summit, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif faced an unlikely foe: a pair of earphones. As he fumbled, twisted, and struggled, even Vladimir Putin tried helping — and the cameras caught every second. The blunder wasn’t new either; Sharif had the same problem in 2022. But while he wrestled with headsets abroad, back home, his Defence Minister Khawaja Asif sparked outrage by calling Pakistan’s devastating floods a “blessing” and urging people to store floodwater in buckets. From diplomatic gaffes to tone-deaf disaster responses, Pakistan’s leaders keep delivering embarrassment — while ordinary citizens pay the real price. Palki Sharma tells you more.
