Shehbaz Sharif and the SCO episode.

Byline: Dr Imran Khalid

TWO back-to-back events have suddenly catapulted Pakistan into the global and regional limelight.

Last week, the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres was in Pakistan on a two-day solidarity trip to create global awareness about the devastating impact of climate change and resultant massive floods in Pakistan.

The second episode is Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's protuberant - and rather flashy - participation in the Council of Heads of State meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Samarkand.

Interestingly, instead of being the topic of serious academic discussions in the mainstream media on the long-term and short-term implications on Pakistan's foreign policy, Shehbaz Sharif's visit was converted into a frivolous tug of war between the PTI keyboard warriors and the PML-N's supporters on the social media.

For two days, the whole nation was hooked on social media, which was bombarded with indecent memes and ridiculous tweets from both sides.

Mr Sharif faced an awkward moment while setting up the meeting with Russian President Putin when he had to call out for help when he failed to plug in his earphone.

This was turned into a laughingstock by the PTI social media activists and projected as a 'huge embarrassment' for the country.

So much so that even a person of the stature of Shireen Mazari, a former university teacher, senior journalist and minister, was indulged in some tawdry and crude tweets about Shehbaz Sharif's each move during the two-day trip - from his demeanour in the meetings to his stroll around the dining area.

This is the reflection of the intensity of extreme polarization that has seeped deeply into our political culture - eroding all signs of decency and civility.

This is a new low in our politics. Regardless of this trashy hoopla and noise, a neutral appraisal of Shehbaz Sharif's participation in the SCO session would reveal that he was quite successful in achieving almost all the predefined objectives.

From Pakistan's perspective, three positive aspects of Sharif's Samarkand yatra are quite noteworthy.

One, this event enabled PM Shehbaz Sharif to build the much-needed rapport with the key world leaders including Xi Jinping, Putin, Erdogan and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi which also implies that Pakistan is gradually regaining prominence in the global political arena.

On the sidelines of the summit, he was able to have bilateral meetings with almost all the leaders there.

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