Many Sikhs Among Indian Students Under Attack In Australia

June 3, 2009

Author: Staff Writer

Source: World Sikh News

http://worldsikhnews.com/3%20June%202009/Many%20Sikhs%20among%20Indian%20students%20under%20attack%20in%20Australia.htm

A number of Indian students, including many Sikhs, continue to reel under madcap violent racist attacks in Australia, triggering panic among the Diaspora even as Prime Minister Kevin Rudd called his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh on weekend to apologize for attacks. Latest victim is a Sikh youth Nardeep Singh (21) hailing from Ludhiana.

The case of a student with severe burns and another with stab wounds hogged the Indian media, and worried Australian universities on Wednesday went so far as to warn that Indian students would go elsewhere if their safety in Australia was not assured.

"We need to respond with more than spin," Universities Australia spokesman Daryl Le Grew said. "We need to acknowledge there's a problem." A large number of students are from Punjab.

The bashings and muggings in Melbourne received wide coverage in the Indian media, Punjab MPs have repeatedly met PM Manmohan Singh and Indian external affairs minister SM Krishna worked the channels but attacks continued nevertheless.