The whole planet got a good look at this guy. I'm really glad that as his world shrinks and collapses, his targets all get the chance to speak their piece. Each and every one of them, as he looks at them and listens.
Posted on 05/02/2010 1:44:45 PM PDT by James C. Bennett
MUMBAI: Ajmal Kasab and his cohorts may have shaken almost the entire city during those dark days at the end of November in 2008, but a young girl held her nerve and nailed him in court six months later when she identified him as one of the CST attackers. "Kasab should be hanged. When I identified him and narrated the incident to the court, Kasab didn't dare look at me. I do not fear anything and will stand with the prosecution till Kasab is punished," said the girl, who is now 11 years old.
"You can click my photo and show my face in the paper. I don't fear anyone," she said on Saturday. The testimony of the girl, who fell unconscious after being hit by a bullet in her leg, was also among those that were a turning point for Kasab in the trial. Earlier, the Pakistani often appeared cocky and confident in court, but his demeanour changed as survivor after survivor identified him as one of the gunmen. On June 10, 2009, the young girl appeared in crutches in court and identified him from among the three accused. As soon as she pointed him out, Kasab, who was standing for the identification, slumped back into his seat.
On her way to recovery today, the girl remains defiant about getting justice. "How can I forget that night, when I saw people killed in front of me? It was scary and horrible...Whenever I see Kasab on TV, I get very angry," she said.
"I don't want other children to face what I had to go through. I do not want people to become a victim of terror. I will join an English-medium school, study hard and get into the police force. I want to end terrorism and hatred. I want peace everywhere," she said. Before 26/11, she loved to play hide and seek and cricket. "When I see others playing, I also feel like playing. The sad part is that I am unable to join them."
Her father, too, who was fleeing with the girl at CST when she was shot in the leg and fell bleeding and unconscious, said the family had no fear of being quoted in the papers. However, in the interest of the family's security, the authorities have asked that no hint of their location be given out.
It was a double whammy for the girl's father as his son, who was 14 then, became ill while looking after his sister at St George Hospital. The boy would dress the girl's wounds and apply medicines to them. However, his illness caused his neck to swell and he had to undergo major surgery. Both sister and brother are still unable to live a normal life. Meanwhile, the father was hindered in his efforts to concentrate on his small business as he had to look after his children. Their mother had died in 2006.
On November 26, 2008, when the girl was still nine, she, her father and brother were on their way to Pune to meet her eldest brother, who runs a small shop there. The father and girl were sitting in the hall opposite a toilet which the brother had gone to. It was the same toilet in which the gunmen had pulled out their AK-47s. The girl and her father didn't see the gunmen walk a certain distance into the hall before they began firing.
The father said, "I saw something land on the ground and some people were trying to throw their luggage onto it. At the same time, two men, who were standing at a distance, started firing indiscriminately. It took us some time to realise that it was a major attack as we began to see people collapsing in pools of blood."
The father and daughter tried to run from the attackers. The girl was ahead while the father was running behind when a bullet passed between his legs and struck her. She collapsed and the father fell on her to protect her. The father said, "Like the others, I too was screaming for help, but after a movement I noticed that the terrorists were coming towards us. We remained collapsed, unmoving, the blood of my daughter, the other injured people and those who were dead all around. The terrorists passed us, assuming that we were dead."
After the terrorists went towards the local train platforms, the father carried his daughter to the nearby St George Hospital. The boy, who stayed in the toilet till the terrorists left, roamed the station for two hours searching for his father and sister among the injured and dead. When someone told him that the dead and injured were being taken to a nearby hospital, he rushed there to find them alive.
The father said, "I wish that the court should hang Kasab. He should be hanged on November 26, so we can celebrate the anniversary every year happily."
Gotta love that little girl. And I’m glad she lost consciousness, in a way.
Sounds like a very mature girl. Best wishes for her.
The whole planet got a good look at this guy. I'm really glad that as his world shrinks and collapses, his targets all get the chance to speak their piece. Each and every one of them, as he looks at them and listens.
To quote M. K. Ghandi:
“Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the act of depriving a whole nation of arms, as the blackest.”
Unfortunately the current Indian government didn't correct the problem but instead perpetuated it.
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