India dismayed over new attacks in Australia

New Delhi, Jan 28 (PTI) India Thursday expressed "dismay"
over new incidents of attacks against Indians in Australia
with Indian External Affairs Minister S M Krishna once again
expected to raise the issue with his Australian counterpart
Stephen Smith on the margins of a conference in London.
"We have 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," Indian Minister of State
for External Affairs Preneet Kaur said in a statement here.
"....In view of the latest incidents reported today, EAM
(External Affairs Minister) is likely to raise this issue once
again with the Australian Foreign Minister later today on the
margins of the meetings in London," she said.
Krishna had met Smith Wednesday and had conveyed that
these attacks are particularly worrisome as the Indian
community members appeared to have been singled out and it was
becoming increasingly difficult to accept these attacks as
mere opportunistic crimes devoid of any racial motives.
He also impressed upon Smith that there has been no
visible progress so far in most of the investigations into
previous attacks including in the fatal murder of 21-year-old
Nitin Garg earlier this 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, Krishna had said. MORE PTI