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'Arrogant or idiot?' Pak PM Imran Khan's 'seating gaffe' at SCO Summit in Bishkek draws Twitterati's ire

In the video, Khan is seen sitting while the rest of the world leaders and dignitaries at the event in Bishkek stood when heads of states of the SCO arrived for the opening ceremony.

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Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, who is attending his first Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit being held in Kyrgyzstan's capital Bishkek, made a seating gaffe on Thursday. 

Khan broke the diplomatic protocol at the opening ceremony of the SCO Summit as he stayed seated even as all other leaders, including his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, were standing. The Pakistan Prime Minister was trolled online for the embarrassing gaffe after his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, shared the video on Twitter. 

The video went viral and the Pakistani prime minister was criticised for his "high-handed" attitude.

In the video shared on the official Twitter handle of PTI, Khan is seen sitting while the rest of the world leaders and dignitaries at the event in the Kyrgyz capital stood when head of states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation arrived for the opening ceremony.

He stood briefly when his name was announced and then seated himself again before the other leaders, in a breach of protocol.

The cricketer-turned-politician, who has not attended many international summits, was trolled online by the netizens for the seating gaffe after the video went viral.

Here are some of the tweets mocking Khan:

"Imran Khan again caused national embarrassment at Bishkek, ShanghaiCooperation Organisation. When everyone was standing. He sat, stood when the presenter took his name but sat again. Arrogant, ill mannered, or an idiot?" one Twitter user wrote.

"Must study the decorum of diplomatic visits to make some mark in future Mr Imran Khan," wrote another.

"He came, he sat, he got up, he sat again. Haters gonna say PM Imran Khan has no manners, I'd say he's still handsome," another tweet said.

This is not the first time that Khan has broken the diplomatic protocol. He was criticised for breaking protocol at the 14th Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Summit held in Saudi Arabia earlier this month.

At the sidelines of the OIC Summit, Khan walked away after speaking to Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz's translator without waiting for him to translate the message. 

On the diplomatic front, Khan on Friday said that enduring peace and prosperity in South Asia will remain elusive until the main dynamics in the region is shifted from "confrontation to cooperation".

Addressing the 19th SCO Summit, Khan said South Asia continues to be challenged by common enemies, including poverty, illiteracy, disease and under-development.

"Enduring peace and prosperity in South Asia will remain elusive until the main dynamic in South Asia is shifted from confrontation to cooperation," Khan was quoted as saying by the state-run Radio Pakistan.

The "political differences and unresolved disputes further compound the predicament," the prime minister said.

(With PTI inputs)

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