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– Sheikh is a good politician. He is very good at many things. But here he has been very reckless.
Athithan Kumarasamy (Labor Party) tells Dagbladet. He is a member of the municipal committee for Stovner, together with Aamir Javed Sheikh (H).
Sheikh’s wife, Afshan Rafiq (H), sits in Oslo City Hall. On Thursday he participated in the NRK “Debate” where he made the following statement:
– I have an urgent appeal to all: try to follow the infection control rules. If you have plans to travel at Easter, it is a great encouragement not to do so.
At the same time, Sheikh was in Pakistan, where he visited a wedding celebration, among other things. Conservative Oslo leader Heidi Nordby Lunde later described the incident as “obviously unfortunate” for Dagbladet.
Rafiq has explained to VG that Sheikh’s father fell ill and that was the reason why he decided to travel. To NRK, he tells that Sheikh was on a “necessary trip”, and not on vacation. His invitation was for vacation trips, he says.
Kumarasamy says that he himself has a sick 87-year-old father who lives in Sri Lanka. He says he has refrained from traveling and visiting him and his 78-year-old mother due to the contagious situation.
– I also lost my father-in-law in February. My wife and I didn’t travel then either. We watched the funeral online, he says.
CRITICAL: District representative Athithan Kumarasamy (Labor Party) reacts to the trip of his colleague Aamir Javed Sheikh (H) to Pakistan. Photo: Private
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– They should be role models
Kumarasamy is not very impressed with his colleagues in Oslo politics.
– Politicians must be role models. It does not give confidence when politicians appear in the national media and say one thing and then do the opposite, he says.
The Labor politician responds that Rafiq did not state that the wife was in Pakistan during the “Debate.”
– Perhaps the debate would have taken a different turn if she had reported it. It is as a result of people who travel, and do not listen to the recommendation of the authorities, that the government has introduced a quarantine obligation in hotels.
Dagbladet has been in contact with Afshan Rafiq on Saturday. He does not want to comment on the case to Dagbladet. However, he confirms the trip from Pakistan to VG and refers to his statements there.
Sheikh tells VG that the event met Pakistani guidelines, that he was there for a short time and met as few people as possible. Dagbladet was unable to contact Sheikh on Saturday.
NIPH: Hospitals have to decide
– Has a crown
Rafiq has been presented with Kumarasmy’s remarks, and he says through political adviser Lars-Jørgen Kihlberg Olsen in the Oslo Conservative Party that he has nothing to add.
Sheikh himself tells VG that both he and his father have been infected with corona before.
– We would not have traveled to Pakistan if that was not the case. Of course, I will go to quarantined hotels for as long as it takes. I want to encourage everyone who travels to follow the strict guidelines that exist, and to be honest and open, he says.
Oslo Conservatives: – Unfortunate
– Too easy
That doesn’t hold up, says Kumarasamy, who is also a nurse.
– Then you take it lightly. We inform people that even if you have been infected, you can still carry the virus. It can be a carrier; it is too early for studies to establish anything else. With the mutated variants, we also don’t know exactly how people can get infected. I’m not impressed at all, he says.
Kumarasamy further notes that travelers from Norway to Pakistan are also at risk of taking variants of the virus mutated in this way.
– He’s not lucky either. It can destroy the entire healthcare system there. The poor can die. Neither Pakistan nor Norway need more pressure on medical care from travelers who do not listen to the authorities’ recommendations.
Sheikh tells VG that he put himself to the test before leaving Norway, and again on Saturday.
Political husband at party in Pakistan
– Drive high on infection
Now Kumarasamy fears for the confidence of the Stovner city council.
– We are fifteen politicians in the district. We work closely together, even though we are from different quarters and have different thoughts. Still, we agree on most things, we go together and we deal with problems together. So it is unfortunate that one of our politicians does this.
Kumarasamy praises the residents of the Stovner district, who he believes have been good at testing themselves and complying with infection control rules.
– Sheikh sits as a district politician in a district leading the infection. Therefore, this is regrettable. But we see that the trend towards infections is also stabilizing with us. In general, the people of the Stovner district are very good. They stand in line at the test sites and they test themselves all the time.
People have run to the forest
The peak of the infection
Infection in Oslo remains high, and Stovner is at the peak of infection with 1,600 infected per 100,000 inhabitants in the last two weeks. Then follows the district of Alna with 1442 and Grorud with 1260.
On Saturday, there were 322 new corona infections in the city in the last 24 hours. That’s three more than the average for the last seven days.
322 cases are still 27 less than the day before and 67 less than the same day last week.
A total of 27,584 citizens of Oslo have been infected since March last year.
