Indian Junior Foreign Minister Reacts to Attacks in Australia

New reports of racially motivated attacks on Indian students are coming out of Australia today. And in response, India’s junior foreign minister is speaking out against the violence. Here’s what he has to say.

Indian student M. A. Khan is enrolled in a hospitality course at the Victoria Institute of Technology. He was attacked on Monday evening while he was walking near a railway station, in an eastern suburb of Melbourne.

Punched, Khan has suffered cuts below his eyes and forehead. He was admitted to a local hospital where Indian media say he received multiple stitches to his face.

The attack on 20-year-old Khan is the latest in a spate of attacks and is the 15th attack on an Indian in less than a month.

India’s junior foreign minister says that talks have occurred at very high levels with the Australian government, and Indian consulates are also actively working for the safety of Indian students.

[Shashi Tharoor, Junior Foreign Minister]:
"The clearest exposition of our position came from our prime minister in parliament when he said very clearly that this is an issue that obviously has caused lot of concern and anguish in our country. We do not want to our citizens to be in danger in any way. But at the same time the Australian government is taking the necessary steps, we have raised it with them at very high level. Our prime minister has spoken to their prime minister. And the Australian government has the obligation as well as the reasonability to do everything it can in its power to protect those people on its territory."

Attacks on Indian students in Australia and Canada have sparked several protests in India.The Australian government has condemned the attacks, but says racism is not the reason behind them.

There are more than 90-thousand Indian students studying in Australia.