Asia-Pacific
India condemns killing of student in Australia
(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-01-04 20:08
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 Nitin Garg of India, aged 21, is seen in this undated handout photo obtained January 4, 2010. [Photo/Agencies] |
External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna called on Australian authorities to speedily find and charge those responsible for Saturday night's attack on Nitin Garg, saying that Indian students in Australia were increasingly targeted with violence.
Australian officials also were quick to condemn the attack in the southern city of Melbourne but urging waiting for the findings of a police investigation before judging whether it was racially motivated.
Some 97,000 Indians are among more than half a million foreigners studying in Australia, an industry worth almost 12 billion Australian dollars ($11 billion) a year.
"It certainly will have some bearing on bilateral ties between our two countries. Our concerns should adequately be met by the Australian government," he said.
The Press Trust of India news agency reported from Melbourne that Garg was an accounting graduate and had permanent residency in Australia. He was stabbed in the abdomen in a park while on his way to fast food restaurant Hungry Jack's where he worked part-time, the report said.
Last year, reports that Indian students in Australia were targeted in violent attacks prompted senior government officials to discuss the issue with 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.
