Viral video shows Nawaz Sharif visiting a factory

ISLAMABAD/ KARACHI: A day after a fresh medical report was filed in the Lahore High Court (LHC) advising Nawaz Sharif against travel to Pakistan, a video purportedly showing the former prime minister visiting a local industrial unit in a northwestern town of England went viral on social media.

The video shows the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) supremo, accompanied by his two sons and former finance minister Ishaq Dar, visiting the different sections of the business place — a factory — and apparently taking a briefing from the staff.

According to a media report, the business is located in Nelson, a town in the Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, some 245 miles away from Central London. 

Talking to Shahzeb Khanzada on Wednesday’s show of ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Key Sath’, Hussain Nawaz, the son of the former prime minister, said that doctors treating his father were not confident of properly looking after him due to the pressures of the PTI government.

Khanzada mentioned that the latest medical report of the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has triggered a polarised debate, where both the government and Shehbaz Sharif are projecting the other side as contemners of courts. Hussain rejected the video as four to five months old, saying the video should have been telecast earlier. He said he persuaded his father for the visit on grounds of healthy change.

To another question of Nawaz Sharif undertaking the business visit to Manchester despite medical challenges, while refusing to come to Pakistan, Hussain Nawaz said the visit was not a business undertaking.

“The elder Sharif visited a Covid regulated factory with minimum staff for 2-3 hours, where he was not required to wear face mask with fewer factory staff around and properly regulated physical distancing.”

When asked why can’t he return to Pakistan in an air ambulance, Hussain Nawaz questioned the host if he wanted the former prime minister to return to the threatening conditions back home.

He asked if anyone investigated why his health dangerously declined causing platelets to drop to a threatening level. He said the condition of Nawaz Sharif did not instantly improve on arriving in the UK, but stabilised in several months.

He said even the Pakistani physicians looking after Nawaz were worried about his care under the PTI government that was bent upon coercion. They asked Dr Adnan to take Nawaz somewhere else as they neither had the capacity nor were they confident of properly looking after him against the pressures of the Imran-led government.