LONDON: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been recovering in London after surgery and cannot return to the country until his doctors allow him to travel, or so we have been told time and again by his entourage of federal ministers.
Judging by a recent Facebook post by anchor Saifan Khan, though, the Prime Minister seems to well enough to go for a casual stroll on Oxford street and take a short detour through one of London’s most upmarket department stores, Harrods.
According to Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, the premier has been recommended by doctors to take walks as part of nearly month-long recovery from surgery he underwent at London’s Haley clinic.
Harrods on Oxford Street is not far off from Sharif’s family flats in Park Lane that have come under another round of intense scrutiny since the Panama Papers were leaked. But, one would hope, that the PM’s doctors would have recommended him to take a few more walks out side. Yet, pictures of him strolling through Hyde Park, also not far off from the Sharif flats, are hard to come by.
But pictures of him indulging in some expensive retail therapy are not. Ever since the Panama Papers were leaked, the PM has taken a number of trips to London – the most recent and prolonged one being his currently ongoing one. He has been caught on camera a number of times browsing through expensive retail outlets during these trips, for luxuries ranging from tailored Saville Row suits to high end watches.
His most recent outing at Harrods, which is now doing the rounds on social media, is another impressive addition to this list.
However, most Facebook commenters do not seem particularly impressed to see the Prime Minister out for another round of retail therapy.
While many of their comments are unprintable here, there is at least one that sums up the national mood around the Prime Minister’s extended stay in London.
Picking on the fact that the Prime Minister is shopping while the upmarket Harrods is on sale, Facebook user Farhan Baig observed that the Prime Minister must have been feeling the “twinge” of spending the public’s money to be shopping at discounted rates.
Baig did not elaborate on how the Prime Minister could have mixed up public money with his own. But at least one person who liked his comment on anchor Saifan Khan’s post seems to have gotten the implication.
