Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan mocked the behavior of the nation's current leader Shehbaz Sharif during the latter’s recent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit in Samarkand last week.
A video of the meeting, which has been widely shared online, shows Sharif struggling to plug in his translator earphone in front of the Russian President.
The video was also featured on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, a popular American comedy talk show, over the weekend.
Addressing a public rally in Chakwal in Punjab province of Pakistan, former Prime Minister Khan played the same video on a big screen.
“Look what happened when Shehbaz Sharif met the Russian President,” stated Khan.
“Why did this happen?... Because his legs were trembling,” the cricketer-turned-politician stated.
Khan reiterated his previous charge, describing Sharif as an “imported” prime minister who has been “installed” as the leader under a foreign-backed conspiracy.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party leader further criticized PM Sharif for hurting the “prestige” of Pakistan with his behavior in front of other world leaders.
“Is he increasing the prestige of Pakistan when he is travelling overseas?”, he asked.
The PTI chief said that he would continue to call out the Prime Minister on various issues and wasn’t scared of retaliation from the country’s political leadership.
Khan also criticized Sharif for undertaking a visit to the United Nations (UN) General Assembly at a time when Pakistan was battling with unprecedented floods, which he underlined have affected millions of people and left more than 1,550 dead.
Since being ousted from power in April, the former prime minister has claimed that the parliamentary no-confidence motion against him was instigated at behest of the US, which was unhappy with him for paying a visit to Moscow during the last week of February as Russia began its special military operation in Ukraine.
Khan has maintained that the US didn’t want Pakistan to have an “independent foreign policy” and that’s why it installed Sharif in power. The former PM has often described Sharif as a “stooge” of the US.