Did Miftah Ismail really wipe his nose with Sania Ashiq's dupatta?

PML-N leader Miftah Ismail became the focal point of online conversation and confusion recently after a (for lack of a better word) bizarre video clip surfaced on social media.

The video clip — which is from a press conference by PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz on March 21 — shows Ismail standing behind PML-N's Sania Ashiq, where at one point, he is seen wiping his nose with what many netizens believe appears to be the dupatta Ashiq is wearing.

The video left many a netizens dumbfounded and honestly, we can't blame them. It is pretty hard to pinpoint exactly what the politician is using to wipe his nose with.

One camp on Twitter was certain Ismail used Ashiq's dupatta and labelled it as "harassment".

A Twitter user felt this was nothing to joke about. "This is totally unacceptable, irrespective of party affiliation. No man has the right to touch a woman’s clothing."

The other camp gave the politician the benefit of doubt. There is more to it than what meets the eye, they urged.

"He is clearly using a towel, so chill," tweeted one user.

Ismail soon took to Twitter and responded to the viral clip. "A video shows me wiping my face with my sister Sania Ashiq’s dupatta," he said. "As seen, I reached in my pocket, got a tissue and wiped my face. Second time I unknowingly picked up her dupatta on the tissue to wipe my face. Of course I apologised to her when I saw it."

Although Ismail's tweet was meant to put the confusion to rest, a few netizens still had a valid question.

Others were satisfied with Ismail's tweet. If the man says it is a tissue, then it is indeed a tissue.

"It is so strange that before Miftah Ismail’s clarification, I could’ve sworn there was no tissue paper and he was in fact cleaning his nose with Sania Ashiq’s dupatta but now all of a sudden [as] you watch the video again, there it is…the tissue paper in his hand," read a tweet.

Ashiq did not release a statement on the incident. What are your thoughts on the video clip?