Punjab Newspaper

Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur has expressed dismay over the fresh incidents of violence in Australia. In a statement issued at New Delhi, she stated that India has learnt with dismay today, of fresh incidents of violence against Indians residing in Australia, with the latest reports coming from Brisbane where four Indians, including three taxi drivers were attacked in two separate incidents on Thursday, 28th January.


The External Affairs Minister met Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith on the margins of the Conference on Afghanistan in London yesterday (January 27th) wherein he had conveyed that these attacks are particularly worrisome as the Indian community individuals appear to be singled out and it was becoming increasingly difficult to accept these attacks as mere opportunistic crime devoid of any racial motives. He impressed upon the Australian FM that there has been no visible progress so far into most of the investigations into previous attacks including in the fatal murder of Nitin Garg earlier in the month. It was the responsibility of the Australian authorities to bring the perpetrators of these crimes to book at the earliest and immediately put effective measures into practice, to prevent any further attacks.

The Australian Foreign Minister has informed the External Affairs Minister that a high-level Working Group had been set up under his overall charge to deal on an urgent basis with this issue. In view of the latest incidents reported today, EAM is likely to raise this issue once again with the Australian Foreign Minister later today on the margins of the meetings in London.

Meanwhile, our High Commissioner in Australia is currently visiting Brisbane, and is meeting community leaders and members of the Queensland Police authorities to discuss and deal with the recent attacks, and to ensure that remedial measures are urgently undertaken.