New Delhi: The recent spate of attacks on Indian students in Australia has come as a rude shock to the student community and authorities in both the countries.
Increasing cases of racist attacks against Indian students in Australia are making members of the community jittery with some of them claiming that such attacks are making life difficult for them.
One of the victims 25-year-old Baljinder Singh, who was robbed and stabbed in Melbourne on May 25, said that Indian students are being specifically targeted in Australia.
"I think this is a racial attack. I want to know if the Indian government is doing anything for the students. Lots of students are being attacked in Melbourne. I am just recovering right now. The police say they will speak to me on Monday (June 1) about the compensation," Baljinder told CNN-IBN.
He also said Indian students should not come to Australia.
“One of my friends got his visa. He is from Karnal (Haryana) but now he is very scared to come here. I don't want to continue in Australia after this incident. I am very scared. I am very, very scared after the incident. I want to advise every student who is planning to come to Australia not to come here. There is no life here," he added.
However, Welfare of Indian Students in Australia chief Dr Yadu Singh, while admitting that Indians have been a victim of racial attacks declined to categorise all attacks as instances of race attacks.
We are in touch with the families of the victims. Indian victims are over represented in such cases. But all incidents are not racists," claimed Dr Singh.
There are many more attacks which do not get noticed. We have met the students and we are talking to the police and government," he said.
Over the past one month there have been four reported race attacks on Indian students.
While Baljinder was robbed and stabbed in Melbourne on May 25; Shravan Kumar, a 21-year-old student, and his three Indian friends were attacked with screwdrivers by a group of drunken teenagers in the early hours of May 24.
On May 9, 21-year old Sourabh Sharma was assaulted in a train by a group of criminals who asked the boy to give them a cigarette while cab driver Balraj Singh was attacked on May 20, 2008, by two men who had hired his cab.
In April last year, 23-year-old Indian student Jalvinder Singh was stabbed four times in the chest. Jalvinder was working as a part time cabbie in Melbourne.
1 comments:
If Australians cannot accept people with other nations properly, then we Indians also would not see a merit in studying in Australia. Lets all reject Australian colleges and universities. Lets go where they treat us well after taking our money!
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