Anjali Kulthe, the nurse who rescued several people during the dreadful Mumbai 26/11 terror attacks, stated on Thursday that when she identified Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab in prison, he was smiling and had no sorrow or regrets. Kulthe revealed her statement while she addressed the ‘UNSC Briefing: Global Counterterrorism Approach: Challenges and Way Forward’ via video conferencing.
“Kasab didn’t have an iota of guilt or remorse, his sense of victory haunts me even today. We, the victims of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, continue to wait for justice as the sponsors of the attack remain free even after 14 years,” Kulthe was quoted as saying.
She stated that a month after the massacre, she was summoned to verify one of the terrorists involved. “Although my family was scared, I chose to be a witness. When I identified Kasab, he smiled sarcastically and said that I had identified him correctly,” Kulthe added. Kasab was hanged to death on November 21, 2012.
The nurse on December 15 briefed the United Nations Security Council about the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. Kulthe, who was working as a staff nurse at the Cama and Albless Hospital for Women and Children at the time, witnessed Kasab and another terrorist attack the hospital and murder the guards.
“On November 26, 2008, I had the night shift in the antenatal care unit from 8 pm. 20 pregnant women were under my charge that night. An hour later we were informed that the city’s main railway station around a mile away from the hospital had been stormed by terrorists. Our senior officials called and asked us to prepare for an emergency. While we began preparing, we heard gunshots being fired at around 10:30 pm from behind the hospital. My helpers and I quickly moved to the window of my wards. We noticed two persons with guns entering the hospital after jumping over the walls. One of them fired at our window, and we closely escaped the bullet which hit a helper’s thumb,” she said.
“I informed the Chief Medical Officer of the hospital that terrorists have entered our hospital and are firing. As I rushed to the first floor of the ward I saw the same two terrorists shooting the two security guards of the hospital. Both of them fell on the floor with their bodies heavily bleeding, I was extremely scared, but I gathered courage and rushed to the first floor. I closed the main iron door and shifted all the patients to the pantry with the help of another staff. I locked the door and switched off the lights so that the shooter could not see the patients. At all costs, I wanted to protect my patients,” she added.
She requested the international community to put the perpetrators to justice and provide closure to the victims’ families. She recounted the terror that the victims of the terror attack experienced on that terrible day, when ten Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists from Pakistan launched synchronized shooting and bombing operations in Mumbai at five key places, killing 166 people and wounding over 300.
Terrorists from the LeT targeted five significant Mumbai locations: the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus train station, the Nariman House commercial complex, Cama Hospital, the Leopold Cafe, the Oberoi-Trident Hotel, and the Taj Hotel and Tower.
Reportedly, Kulthe’s narrative had a significant impact on the Council members, touching several of them. Her acts were described as ‘inspiring and moving’ by UAE minister Noura Bint Mohammed Al Kaabi. Meanwhile, EAM S Jaishankar also lauded the nurse for her courage and said, “Her testimony today is a stark reminder to the Council and the international community that justice is yet to be delivered to the victims of several terrorist incidents, including the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.”
“A challenge is how do we deal with double standards, both inside and outside this Council. For too long, some have persisted with the approach that terrorism is just another instrument or stratagem. Those invested in terrorism have used such cynicism to carry on,” he said at the ‘UNSC Briefing: Global Counterterrorism Approach: Challenges and Way Forward’.