Spitting by Nawaz Sharif's guard shocked me, says Panzani Cheema

LONDON: A Londoner, Panzani Cheema, who was spat at by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's guard, has said she was left in a state of shock after the incident.

Geo News reported last week the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has charged Nawaz's former guard Farid Nemouchi with the alleged common assault for spitting on Cheema, a Brunei national who works in the financial sector.

Pakistani media had interviewed Nawaz a moment before the incident last year on September 16. Cheema had appeared from nowhere and started filming and questioning as Nemouchi was pulling out to take Nawaz home, from Hasan Nawaz’s office.

Cheema had knocked on the window of the car. Nemouchi, driving Nawaz, lowered the window and said “Hi” to the woman. The woman said “Hi” to Nawaz Sharif and said, "I have heard that you are a very corrupt Pakistani politician.”

Angered by the comment, the driver allegedly spat on her face, rolled up the window, and drove away. The entire incident was caught on Cheema’s phone.

This week, Cheema told Geo News what unfolded on that day. She said: “I was just walking to the Hyde Park with a friend. I saw there was a group of people gathered there. I saw Nawaz Sharif and lot of people know about him because of negative media and I knew of him too. I work in money-laundering and crime prevention in the city. I approached to question him. I was excited to see him and I started recording so I can later show to my friends and family. I asked the driver to roll down the window. I knew he will have no time for me. I asked the question and his driver spat at me and drove off.”

Cheema said: “Physically of course I didn’t get hurt but emotionally I was in a state of shock. It took me a while to register what had happened. I was disgusted by it. Nawaz Sharif should have asked his guard to apologise instead of running away.”

She said she went in a state of shock when the incident took place. ”My friend from the Czech Republic was with me. I wasn’t expecting that. My friend is a women rights activist. She encouraged me to contact the police and with help from a Pakistani friend we did research and filed the complaint. I was not really bothered but my friend encouraged me. My friends helped me make a complaint online. The next day the police got in touch.”

Since the reporting of the incident, Panzani’s pictures with the ex-PM Imran Khan have emerged but she insists she has no time for Pakistani politics and not bothered about what’s going on there.

She said: "I don’t have any connections to politics as I am not involved but I do consider myself an activist but don’t want to become a famous activist. I stand up for the rights of Palestine and Yemen. It had nothing to do with Pakistani politics.”

Before working in the finance sector, Cheema was running a successful cake business and that’s how she met Khan. She said: “Through my cake business, I got acquainted with a Pakistani who was a friend with Imran Khan. He invited me to Kasur in Pakistan. There was a dinner for Imran Khan where we met. It was a brief meeting. We hardly spoke. I knew only about his cancer hospital. We have never spoken after that.”

Two weeks ago, the guard appeared at the Westminster Magistrates’ Court with his lawyer Moeen Khan, a criminal law expert. He pleaded not guilty before the judge and said he will contest the charge of spitting and causing distress to Cheema. The prosecutor told the judge that the spitting act had left Cheema distressed and caused her trauma. The judge told Farid that he was on bail without any conditions attached. The trial will take place at a later date in June or July.

Farid Nemouchi, Algerian by origin, is a highly trained martial arts expert who protected Nawaz Sharif for nearly three years during the former premier’s last exile in London. He returned to Pakistan a few months ago to lead Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz's election campaign.