India’s top diplomat in Australia on Friday rejected claims from police that racism was not a factor in a wave of savage attacks on students from the subcontinent.
High Commissioner to Australia Sujatha Singh said after a meeting with police there would be increased patrols around trouble spots in Melbourne in a bid to curb the attacks, which have caused outrage in India.
The move comes after unprecedented pressure from New Delhi, with External Affairs Minister SM Krishna demanding that Australian authorities protect Indian students in the country’s second largest city.
The attacks have been occurring for more than a year, but came into focus last weekend when student Sravan Kumar Theerthala was left in a coma after being stabbed with a screwdriver by gatecrashers at a party. A 17-year-old boy has been charged with attempted murder.
Police have repeatedly denied that race was a factor in the attacks, arguing that Indian students were often simply in the wrong place at the wrong time as they travelled home late at night with items such as cellphones and iPods.
But Singh rejected the assertion after her meeting with senior officers, saying the number of Indian students being targeted indicated race played a part.
”There is a racist element to some of the attacks, but many of the attacks are opportunistic,” she said.
Singh also indicated she would be keeping a close watch on the police response to the issue, urging students who were dissatisfied with the way investigations were going to contact her so she could take up their cause.
Student Jayasanka Bagpelli, who was at the party where Theerthala was stabbed, also dismissed police claims that race played no part.
”The police weren’t there, we were,” he told Agence France-Presse in the foyer of Royal Melbourne Hospital, where he and friends were waiting for news about Theerthala’s condition in the intensive care unit.
”They were saying ‘Don’t touch us you Indians’ and ‘Indians go home’ before they got the screwdriver.
”I feel lucky to be alive and my friend got poked in the brain.”
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said he was horrified at the attacks but defended the police response.
”Any act of violence, any decent human being just responds with horror at the sorts of attack which have occurred recently,” he said.
”But the key thing is to make sure our law enforcement authorities are doing the best they can. I am confident they are.”
Police estimate Indians make up 30% of robbery victims in Melbourne’s western suburbs, where many of the students live.
There are about 50 000 Indian students in Melbourne, boosting an international education sector that is the country’s third largest export earner, reaping $15,5-billion in 2008.
Asked if the attacks would put Indians off studying in Australia, Singh replied: ”I have received several emails over the past few days asking if Australia is a safe place to study in.
”That shows you that many prospective students coming to Australia now have this question mark.”
Bagpelli said he would leave Australia after just six months and many of his friends had similar plans.
”My parents are really worried,” he said, adding that he would return only to give evidence in court against the attackers.
The attacks have prompted headlines such as ”Australia, land of racists” in the Indian media and Singh said she would be skirting the issue if she denied it was damaging Australia’s reputation for tolerance.
”It’s unfortunate because it does not reflect the true face of Australian,” she said.
Singh said the Indian community in Australia was examining flying Theerthala’s parents, who she described as poor farmers, over to Melbourne to see their son.
”You imagine the shock of his parents to have their child lying critically injured in a foreign hospital,” she said. — Sapa-AFP