Dawkins
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India warns its students in Australia
After a series of attacks against Indians in Australia, the Indian government has decided to issue a formal travel advisory for Indian students in Australia. They've been asked not to travel alone, to ensure that someone who is not with them always knows where they're headed, and to stay in well-lit areas late at night. Students who plan to head to Australia will also be given a list of do's and don'ts.
The government's guidelines are a deliberate snub to Australia which has insisted that Indians are not being racially targeted.
Two Indians have been killed in Australia in the last 72 hours. Nitin Garg, a 21-year-old student in Melbourne, was stabbed on his way to work over the weekend.
Another partially-burnt body found in the New South Wales province is believed to be of a 25-year old Indian, but the body is yet to be formally identified. Australian officers are in touch with the man's family in India and the Indian Consulate to help with identification, the New South Wales Police Force said in a statement.
In Melbourne, a candlelight vigil was held in Melbourne on Monday night for Garg. People carried signs saying "Indian Students Welcome Here".
But Australian authorities insist there is still no evidence that the attack was racially motivated, claiming that the country is a safe place for international students and migrants. "It is an unfortunate, very unfortunate circumstance, but the police have continued to re-affirm the fact that there is no evidence that this is a racially-based attack," Australian Acting Foreign Minister Simon Crean told reporters on Tuesday.
He added that the incident was one of several stabbings that took place in Melbourne over the Christmas period, and emphasised that such attacks can happen anywhere. "It also happens in Delhi, it happens in Mumbai, and it is the responsibility of all law enforcement authorities to get on top of those issues," Crean said.
India strongly condemned the fatal stabbing on Monday and Foreign Minister SM Krishna warned that the incident could affect bilateral ties between the countries. .
But Australian Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard insisted "Australia is overwhelmingly a safe place, we have very low homicide rates compared with other nations around the world, but our sympathies obviously go to the family of the young man who died in Melbourne in this dreadful incident."
Last year, reports that Indian students in Australia were targeted in violent attacks prompted senior government officials to discuss the issue with authorities in New Delhi, including Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
Australian police say that while some attacks on Indians are racially motivated, many are ordinary crimes. They say Indian students are vulnerable because they often travel alone late at night to part-time jobs or from universities carrying valuables such as laptop computers.
97,000 Indians are among more than half a million foreigners studying in Australia, an industry worth almost 10 billion US dollars.
After a series of attacks against Indians in Australia, the Indian government has decided to issue a formal travel advisory for Indian students in Australia. They've been asked not to travel alone, to ensure that someone who is not with them always knows where they're headed, and to stay in well-lit areas late at night. Students who plan to head to Australia will also be given a list of do's and don'ts.
The government's guidelines are a deliberate snub to Australia which has insisted that Indians are not being racially targeted.
Two Indians have been killed in Australia in the last 72 hours. Nitin Garg, a 21-year-old student in Melbourne, was stabbed on his way to work over the weekend.
Another partially-burnt body found in the New South Wales province is believed to be of a 25-year old Indian, but the body is yet to be formally identified. Australian officers are in touch with the man's family in India and the Indian Consulate to help with identification, the New South Wales Police Force said in a statement.
In Melbourne, a candlelight vigil was held in Melbourne on Monday night for Garg. People carried signs saying "Indian Students Welcome Here".
But Australian authorities insist there is still no evidence that the attack was racially motivated, claiming that the country is a safe place for international students and migrants. "It is an unfortunate, very unfortunate circumstance, but the police have continued to re-affirm the fact that there is no evidence that this is a racially-based attack," Australian Acting Foreign Minister Simon Crean told reporters on Tuesday.
He added that the incident was one of several stabbings that took place in Melbourne over the Christmas period, and emphasised that such attacks can happen anywhere. "It also happens in Delhi, it happens in Mumbai, and it is the responsibility of all law enforcement authorities to get on top of those issues," Crean said.
India strongly condemned the fatal stabbing on Monday and Foreign Minister SM Krishna warned that the incident could affect bilateral ties between the countries. .
But Australian Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard insisted "Australia is overwhelmingly a safe place, we have very low homicide rates compared with other nations around the world, but our sympathies obviously go to the family of the young man who died in Melbourne in this dreadful incident."
Last year, reports that Indian students in Australia were targeted in violent attacks prompted senior government officials to discuss the issue with authorities in New Delhi, including Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
Australian police say that while some attacks on Indians are racially motivated, many are ordinary crimes. They say Indian students are vulnerable because they often travel alone late at night to part-time jobs or from universities carrying valuables such as laptop computers.
97,000 Indians are among more than half a million foreigners studying in Australia, an industry worth almost 10 billion US dollars.
