There are handshakes and then there are Shehbaz-Shakes.
If a psychologist analyzed the body language of the prime minister in videos and images of his meeting with President Donald Trump, they would tell him that his rigidity, constant disturbing and the longest normal hands of hands are indicative of tension and anxiety. And yet, Pakistan is in a geopolitical peak that we have not seen in a long time.
Shehbaz and the Chief of Staff of the General Staff of the Army (COAS) also meet the US President Donald Trump in the White House in Washington DC on September 25, 2025. Photo courtesy of the PMO.
Trump described Prime Minister Shehbaz as a “great guy”, which is the highest fulfillment he could receive from such head of state.
The meeting at the Oval office was closed doors, so we cannot say if the hugs have worked their magic.
For each Saudi Arabia official, Shehbaz greeted, his hugs were more uncomfortable than the last. But he got us a defense agreement.
The videos and compilations of the SCO Summit flooded X, where people posted humid comments on how long the hugs of the prime minister lasted. But, again, these hugs occurred when he has been signing Mou after Mou with different countries, clearly, indicates that the charm offensive is working.
FM ISHAQ Dar and Chinese FM Wang Yi In Islamabad Photo: Fo X Account
Foreign Minister Ishaq also hugged this new diplomacy school with all my heart. No one was saved from the “manual sandwich.” When China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi walked through the red carpet, Dar was waiting there with contained breathing and nervous fingers.
And then, with surprise or amazement, everyone saw the magic of the manual sandwich that Shehbaz-Shake got to work: after a delay of five years, CPEC 2.0 was formally announced.
FM ISHAQ GIVE WITH EYGPTIAN FM BADR ABDELATTY PHOTO: X
Shehbaz held a bilateral meeting with the main advisor of Bangladesh’s professor, Muhammad Yunus, apart from the 80th session of UNGA. September 25, 2025 Photo: Pmo X Account
Perhaps the key to diplomacy is not formality, it is simply a ‘JAADU KI JHAPPI‘.
