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Shehbaz Sharif SCO photo controversy: A strange diplomatic controversy arose after the 26th summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) held in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan. Pakistan, which is often in the news due to its actions on international forums, this time tampered with a group photo in such a way that it became infamous across the world.

Actually, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) of Pakistan had shared a group photo of the conference on its official social media handle ‘X’. The surprising thing is that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Iranian President Masoud Pejeshkian standing next to him were allegedly cropped and disappeared completely from this picture.

Thu-thu on social mediathen Shahbaz Sharif’s damage control. Shehbaz Sharif SCO photo controversy

As soon as this cropped picture posted by Pakistan’s PMO came to light, sharp criticism started on social media and in international circles. People immediately started questioning this narrow mindedness of Pakistan by comparing the original photo released by the Indian side and the photo shared by Pakistan.

Seeing the matter escalating and all-round embarrassment, Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif himself had to come forward for damage control. He shared the entire original group photo without any cropping from his personal X account, in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi and all other leaders were clearly seen standing at their respective places.

what happened in the photo session?

As per the tradition of the summit, there was a joint group photo session of the heads of state and government of all the member countries.

• In the original photo released by the Indian Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and other countries, all the leaders, including Prime Minister Modi, were clearly present.
• At the same time, in the picture posted from Pakistan’s PMO handle, the frame was changed in such a way that PM Modi and the Iranian President standing with him appeared missing from it.

Such tampering with the official photo of a multilateral international conference is being considered completely against diplomatic decorum. Diplomatic experts say that such childish behavior on a global platform does not suit the top office of any country.

PM Modi’s diplomatic influence in Bishkek

Prime Minister Narendra Modi remained at the center of global diplomacy during the conference. He held important bilateral talks with several prominent global leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. During the group photo, Prime Minister Modi and Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif were seen standing at a distance from each other on the stage. There was no formal conversation or bilateral meeting between the two leaders. In such a situation, Pakistan’s attempt to remove PM Modi from the frame by editing the photo is being linked to its diplomatic frustration and discomfort. However, after heavy trolling, Pakistan had to come on backfoot and make the real picture public.