Guard’s attack on cameraman: Nawaz regrets incident, vows action

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday expressed his regret at the attack on a television cameraman by his security guards and vowed to take the incident to its logical conclusion.

Speaking to journalists at the accountability court, a regretful Nawaz said the incident should never have taken place and that he was as saddened by it as the journalist community.

Wajid Ali, a cameraman working for private news channel Samaa TV, was filming Nawaz as he was leaving the Parliament House on Monday when his security guards attacked and injured him. Video footage available with Geo News shows the guards chasing the cameraman, who ran to save himself but was eventually overpowered and brought to the ground with kicks to his face.

Elaborating on the incident, Nawaz said his chief security guard, Shakoor, was clearing the path for him as they headed for the car when the guard pushed the cameraman out of the way.

“I objected to the way [the cameraman] was pushed out of the way… [and then] the cameraman hit Shakoor’s forehead with his camera. Shakoor’s forehead started bleeding,” Nawaz told reporters.

“I said, no need to react.. I saw the [cameraman] getting pushed, my guard getting hit, after that I don’t know what happened, I was leaving,” the former premier said.

Regretting the incident, Nawaz vowed that he would hold the perpetrator accountable and take the incident to its logical conclusion.

A case was registered against three of Nawaz’s guards over the incident earlier. In the FIR, cameraman Wajid Ali said he was performing routine coverage of the Parliament session for his channel and as he began filming Nawaz, his chief security guard Shakoor asked two other guards to attack him.

One of the guards was caught by journalists at the site of the incident before he could escape. He was handed over to Parliament House security. Another guard managed to flee.