Melbourne, June 6 (Inditop) An organisation representing Indian students in Australia said Saturday it was “quite disturbed” over how some “anti-Indian Indians” here were holding the students responsible for the spate of alleged racist attacks on the student community.
The Federation of Indian Students of Australia (FISA) has also lashed out at some of the Indian diaspora for supporting the administration and police’s “inaction” over the attacks due to its own “selfish interest”. The student’s body said it would continue its fight for justice and unmask the “anti-Indian Indians”.
Seven Indian students were assaulted in the last one month in Melbourne and Sydney.
In one of the worst attacks, Sravan Kumar Theerthala from Andhra Pradesh was stabbed with a screwdriver. He was in the ICU of the Royal Melbourne Hospital and is now showing signs of improvement.
The attacks have led to diplomatic pressure from India and protests in Australia by Indian students.
“We are quite disturbed with the attitude of some Australian Indians who have squarely blamed the newly arrived migrants and students and supported the inaction of the police and Australian government for their own selfish interest,” the FISA said in a statement.
“These are a handful of people who are migration agents, education agents, have private colleges or run tiny associations and their only interest is to be in the good books of the authorities. FISA will continue to fight for justice even if it means identifying these anti-Indian Indians,” the statement said.
FISA executive members Saturday met officials of the Victoria state police and prime minister’s department and discussed strategies and measures to deal with the spate of attacks on Indian students. Melbourne is the capital of Victoria province.
“An action plan was discussed with Victoria police and the Victorian premier’s department and we are continuing to work with both,” the FISA statement said.
The representatives demanded that ‘International Student High Risk Zones’ with increased police vigil be declared in areas such as train stations and other public transport nodes and also that crime statistics be made public.
They also called for adequate on-campus accommodation for all international students and blanket insurance policy for students to cover assaults.
Measures such as counselling young Australians and an advertising campaign highlighting the contribution of international students to the Australian economy were also discussed, it said.
The association said that they have received hundreds of hate e-mails on its site and other social network sites.
FISA also warned against false and misleading text messages calling the Indian students to protest and urged the students to not support any action that included breaking the law and disturbing civil harmony.
