Muhammad Hanif, Senior Journalist for BBC Urdu, has penned a sharply witty and lightly taunting article titled ‘It’s Art, Not Flattery’. In this masterwork, he dissects what he perceives as a masterful, five-and-a-half-minute performance by Shehbaz Sharif on a grand international stage. He compares the political maneuvering not to mere sycophancy, but to a high art form that will, in the future, be included in curriculums, celebrated, and even set to music at weddings—meaning, no insult to art will be left undone.
Muhammad Hanif wrote “Please, for God’s sake, don’t call it flattery. You might even want to refrain from calling it diplomacy. What Shehbaz Sharif pulled off in Sharm el-Sheikh in five and a half minutes was a masterpiece.
Children will study it in schools, it will be part of the curriculum in training schools for government officers, it will be exhibited in art galleries, and wedding DJs will set ‘My Favorite Field Marshal’ to music and create a fantastic atmosphere.
If you think I’m exaggerating, think again about who was truly exaggerating, them or me.
If you don’t believe it, watch the Shehbaz Sharif and Trump video again. I watched it rewound, with the sound off, and then I showed it to an eleven-year-old. Even he was spellbound, looking at me, then at the duo of Shehbaz Sharif and President Trump, nodding his head in amazement.
In closed rooms, everyone offers a bit of flattery. On public forums, carefully measured tributes are presented. But the artist’s real test is when the stage is grand and those who understand the nuances of the performance are sitting in the audience.
After two years of bloody destruction in Gaza, President Trump sets up a peace deal carnival, and no matter what the world’s problem is, President Trump finds a solution by making everything revolve around himself, as if it’s ‘my little one’s birthday today.’
In Sharm el-Sheikh, there are kings, princes, Turkey’s man of steel, Egypt’s dictator, and the elected rulers of Britain, France, and Italy. But in this court, none of them please him. First, he remembers his ‘Favorite Field Marshal,’ and then he addresses our Prime Minister, asking him to repeat those beautiful things he had said to him earlier.
If this scene were in a movie, violins would start playing, and rose branches would bow toward each other.
Whispering sweet nothings in a full assembly might make a sweetheart shy, but Shehbaz Sharif confidently approached the mic. After ‘Salam Alaikum’ and ‘Good Evening,’ he glanced around, mentioned one or two ‘brotherly leaders,’ but within 30 seconds, he understood the host’s mood and started his ‘Nobel Peace Prize’ item number.
Applause rang out. Then he looked at and named his ‘brotherly leaders’ in the audience. You might have noticed that as soon as he named two or three, President Trump’s face began to fall slightly.
President Trump was standing behind him, but a true artist has an eye in the back of his head. Shehbaz Sharif forgot the names of the ‘brotherly leaders’ and turned toward the men who proved President Trump to be the Messiah. This time, he held the note longer: seven, no, eight wars; saving millions of lives in India and Pakistan; millions of lives in the Middle East.
I don’t know how you reacted, but the ‘Karachiite’ in me blurted out, “Dude, stop, are you trying to make me cry?”
But a true artist is never affected by his own artistry. So, Shehbaz Sharif didn’t stop and hit a high, yet subtle, note. The India-Pakistan war—if President Trump hadn’t stopped two nuclear powers, perhaps no one would have survived. Every American considers himself a bit of a superhero, and President Trump saved the whole world from destruction.
Reciting a panegyric in a grand court is an old tradition, and it usually ends with a blessing. Ghalib, trying to get his stipend increased from his King, once wrote:
May you live a thousand years,
And may each year have fifty thousand days.
Shehbaz Sharif even surpassed Ghalib, praying for President Trump’s ‘forever, ta abbad (eternally)’ guidance.
Afterward, when Trump said, “I didn’t expect so much, and what is there left to say? Let’s go home,” I was worried he might take Shehbaz Sharif home with him to make the First Lady listen to his words.”
But Shehbaz Sharif had to return home, so he did, because President Trump’s ‘Favourite Field Marshal’ was already sitting at home.