With a muted video of Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar’s address at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) going viral, netizens, especially Indians, have taken to social media, calling out Pakistan for “muting” the Indian representative’s speech.
A social media user on X (formerly Twitter) named A Waheed Murad wrote, “State TV in Pakistan muted the address of the Indian Foreign Minister at the SCO summit in Islamabad.”
While Murad wasn’t the only one to highlight the muted video, Journalist Iftikhar Firdous also took to X to explain that all in-camera sessions were bound to be muted on PTV and the same goes for SCO.
“It’s an in-camera session. I haven’t heard any of the speeches on TV, even the Pakistani premier is live and it’s muted. I also inquired why I couldn’t hear them”, he wrote on X (formerly Twitter)
Meanwhile, Information Ministry also stated that according to standard operating procedure (SOPs), except for the SCO initial ceremony, all addresses were bound to mute.
Islamabad and New Delhi, in their national statements, have avoided taking indirect jabs at each other through the SCO platform.
“While the international community must extend the needed assistance to help Afghan Interim Government in staving off the humanitarian crisis and preventing an economic meltdown, it must also demand from the Afghan Interim Government to take concrete measures to promote political inclusivity, as well as to ensure that its soil is not used for terrorism against its neighbours, by any entity,” maintained PM Shehbaz Sharif during his address at SCO.
“Projects such as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and International North-South Corridor (INSC) can be expanded to improve connectivity, focusing on roads, railways, and digital infrastructure,” he said.
Indian External Affairs Minister Jaishankar, while addressing the SCO summit, congratulated Pakistan for hosting such a high political union of countries. “We must respect each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, and this cooperation should be based on genuine partnership, not unilateral agendas,” he asserted.
According to Pakistan’s Foreign Minister M. Ishaq Dar, the last time Pakistan hosted a diplomatic event of this magnitude was 27 years ago, marking what he called the country’s “return to the international stage.”
In 1997, Pakistan held the first Extraordinary Summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to celebrate its 50th year of independence.
The SCO bloc claims to represent 40% of the world’s population and about 30% of its GDP.
Previously, Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Monday arrived in Pakistan to attend the SCO meeting, as well as for a four-day bilateral visit. His visit is the first by a Chinese head of government to Pakistan in 11 years, Pakistan’s Prime Minister’s Office said.
