The Bondi Beach attack in Australia will forever remain etched in Mohammed Rahmat Pasha’s mind. Despite fearing for his life, the 37-year-old from Telangana chose to help victims of the terror attack, holding their hands, comforting them, and assisting police and healthcare workers in moving the injured onto stretchers, and into ambulances.
“I saw the shooter, the father, Sajjad Akram, opening fire and moving forward,” Mr Pasha recalled. “He was not very far from me and I could see him clearly. Just then I saw an elderly woman who had been shot in the legs and was calling for help. Of course, I was frightened and feared for my safety, but I could not stop myself from walking up, sitting by her side, and offering her words of comfort,” he told The Hindu. Mr Pasha hails from Vikarabad and lived in Masab Tank, Hyderabad, for several years.
It was a little past 7 a.m. when he was walking along Bondi Beach and heard what he initially thought were firecrackers. It was only when he saw people screaming and collapsing to the ground that he realised the gravity of the situation.
“The lady was in a lot of pain, and told me she had done nothing and had only been sitting there humming a song. I assured her that she would be okay, and that she would return on Christmas to sing the same song at the same spot. Even in that situation, she was praying for me,” he said.
The father of three, two sons and a daughter, who moved to Australia in 2019 to train as a chef, said he did whatever he could to help as many victims as possible. The scenes, he said, were horrific. “It was like khoon ki holi, and people were running everywhere to save themselves. The shooter kept moving forward. Had he turned around, who knows what would have happened. Maybe he would have shot me,” he recalled.
Even during a phone call from Australia, the emotional toll of his experience is palpable. His voice quivers as he speaks. “I have not returned to work since that day. I have barely been sleeping, maybe for three hours a night,” he said. “I have never seen anything like this in my life. One of the victims was bleeding from the neck, and died in my arms.”
Responding to the communal slurs and anti-immigrant rhetoric that has flooded social media after the incident, Mr Pasha said, “Our faith teaches us that killing an innocent is equivalent to killing all of mankind, and saving an innocent is saving all of mankind. Terrorism has no religion. Humanity comes first – above religion, caste, and creed.”
He said people around him have been supportive, with several reaching out to offer words of kindness and consolation. His family, meanwhile, hopes that he will return home soon.
Published – December 20, 2025 12:44 am IST
