Racial Violence and Australian Attitude

Despite all claims and promises made by Australia, attacks on Indians are continuing unabated. No impact of the strong reaction and the grave concern expressed by the Indian Government, and the advisory issued by it to Indians living in Australia, has been noticed, as yet. The attempt to burn an Indian alive on 8 January last goes to prove that the Australian Administration has failed to prevent attacks on Indians.

Reasons for Attacks
Two Indians, Nitin Garg and Ranjot, have been killed in Australia during last fortnight, and now a murderous assault was carried out on Jaspareet Singh, who hails from Haryana. Strangely, the Australian Government is unwilling to admit that the assault on Jaspareet was carried out because of racial hatred. Our own government is avoiding saying it in so many words because of diplomatic expediencies. One wonders if these are usual and common kind of attacks, why are only Indians being targeted?
There is always a motive behind every crime. One wonders that if these attacks on Indians are not because of racial reasons, what is the motive behind them? Did the Australian Administration find the causes behind almost 100 attacks carried out against Indians during 2009?

Failure of Australian Government
In a developed country like Australia, crime rate is much low than that in developing countries. The rate of attacks on Indians during 2009 was five times higher than that in 2008. Yet, the failure of the Australian Government to investigate these crimes reflects how carelessly and non-seriously the government there takes these attacks. It is, perhaps, because of this that the Government of India has reacted rather sharply to the Jaspreet case. Union Minister for Affairs of Indian Diaspora Vyalar Ravi has expressed annoyance and asked why the government there does not arrest such attackers? The statement is the manifestation of the annoyance of the Government of India against the apathy shown by the Australian administration.
India has categorically stated that the Australian administration is not fulfilling its promises in this regard. How strange is it that four persons threw some inflammable object on Jaspreet and set him afire, yet the Australian police maintain that it was no racial attack. On what basis have the police jumped to that conclusion? If they believe that the attack was not racial, they should explain the reasons why Jaspreet was attacked. If the police are not doing so, it implies that no necessary and desirable attempts have been made to prevent such attacks. Clearly, such a casual government attitude encourages those who indulge in violence.

Impact on Australian Economy
Yet another aspect of these attacks is that they may weaken the Australian economy as well, because that country earns around $13 billion from foreign students. Going by the continuing attacks on Indian students there, the number of students going to Australia may come down drastically, which may cause a loss to Australia to the tune of $700 million. The issue is not confined to Indian students alone; students from other countries may also think twice before applying for admission in Australian institutions.
There are apprehensions that the number of students going to Australia may come down by 50 percent, and the loss may further get multiplied. The advisory issued by the Government of India to students in Australia calls upon students to avoid going alone to secluded or dark areas, and always to venture out in groups. The External Affairs Ministry has indicated that if effective measures are not initiated, India may declare Australia as an unsafe country. It calls for Australia to change its mindset and take the issue seriously by initiating effective steps to prevent such attacks.

Continued Assaults on Students To Strain India-Australia Relations

The murder of an Indian student in Melbourne is enough to prove that the Australian Government is not at all committed to prevent assaults on Indians. Its sole interest seems to be that such incidents are not believed to be racial attacks. Since only Indians are being targeted, the obvious conclusion bound to be drawn is that Indians are becoming prey of violence because of racialism.

Implementation of New Law
If it is assumed even for the sake of argument that this is not so, then it becomes the responsibility of the Australian Government to give a plausible explanation for these attacks. It is frustrating to find the Australian Government unable to stop attacks on Indians, and to take necessary steps to discourage forces that are targeting Indian students.
The Australian media has suggested the implementation of a new law to deal with the situation. This only points out the failure of the Australian Government to take necessary measures.
It is equally distressing to find the Indian Government unable to do anything in this respect except to lodge an official protest. This is the situation when Indian students went there at the invitation of the Australian Government, in a way. Australia should be reminded of the invitation extended to Indian students for studying there to help its educational institutions to earn foreign exchange.

Victims of Racial Violence
It is difficult to understand why the Indian Government is so very mind in defending the interests of students staying in Australia! It is, perhaps, because of this careless attitude of the Indian Government that the Australian Government does not go beyond expressing an official reaction to these incidents.
It must be borne in mind that in addition to being victims of violence, Indian students are facing many other problems in Australia. Teaching has stopped in some educational institutions. Some of them are even demanding higher fees from Indian students. These are nothing short of a kind of deceit.

Anarchic Situation
As the Indian Government is not conscious of the welfare of its citizens, no initiative is being taken at the international level to draw the world's attention to racial attacks on Indian students because of anarchic situation in Australia. Not much satisfaction can be derived from External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna's reminder to the Australian Government about its responsibility to investigate into the death of the Indian student in Melbourne and to punish the guilty.
India has expressed such reactions on earlier occasions also. It has now become essential for the Government of India to make Australia realize that such incidents will affect mutual trust in the relationship between the two countries.