s90
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Oct 28, 2008
- Messages
- 1,313
- Reaction score
- 1
President of the Federation of Indian Students in Australia, Amit Menghani holds out a mobile phone with fellow members, as authorities in Australia prepare to launch a telephone helpline for Indian students who have been the target of a wave of violent attacks in the southern city of Melbourne.
NEW DELHI: India said on Saturday it was closely monitoring the situation of its students in Australia after a wave of attacks on them that has raised diplomatic tensions between the two countries, AFP reported.
External affairs spokesman Vishnu Prakash said India had received Australias assurances that they will be doing what is necessary to ensure that such attacks dont reoccur.
His statement came amid Indian newspaper headlines Saturday voicing anger over the attacks. Outrage over curry bashing, said leading newspaper The Times of India.
The Hindustan Times showed a photograph of bandaged Indian student Sravan Kumar Theerthala lying comatose in his Melbourne hospital bed.
Theerthala was left in a coma and fighting for his life after being stabbed last weekend with a screwdriver by gatecrashers at a party. A 17-year-old boy has been charged with attempted murder.
We are very closely monitoring the situation. We are quite concerned at the brutal attacks that are taking place, Prakash added.
He was speaking after Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd phoned his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh on Friday to pledge that the overwhelming majority of Indian students were safe in his country, according to a statement from the prime ministers office.
Rudd took the issue of the security of all foreign students in Australia very seriously, the statement said.
Indians form the second-largest group of overseas students in Australia and there has been a spate of attacks on students from the subcontinent.
Indias media has dubbed Australia a racist country and newly appointed External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said Friday he was appalled by the violence.