NSUI protests attacks on Indian students in Austraila

New Delhi, Jan.27 (ANI): Activists of the National Students Union of India (NSUI) staged a protest outside the Australian High Commission here on Wednesday over the growing number of racial attacks on Indian students Down Under.

Holding placards, scores of students converged in front of the Australian High Commission here to voice their anguish over the series of attacks on Indian students in Australia. They also raised anti-Australian government slogans.

The protestors tried to march towards the High Commission but were prevented from it by the police stationed outside the High Commission.

The NSUI activists demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh must rope in the United Nation to ensure security of Indians in Australia.

"Today, on behalf of all students of the country, the NSUI has staged a protest in front of the Australian Embassy (High Commission) against atrocities committed on Indian students in Australia. Indian students are being tortured in the same manner as Britishers harassed Indians a century ago... We appeal our Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to involve the UN in order to ensure the security of Indians in Australia... If these attacks will happen again, the NSUI will stage protest all across India," said Mohammad Shahnawaz Choudhary, General Secretary, NSUI.

The attacks over the past 18 months, including the fatal stabbing of a 21-year-old Indian graduate this month, have strained Australian ties with India and hurt Australia's lucrative foreign student market, its third largest export earner, worth 13 billion Australian dollars (12 billion U.S. dollars) in 2007-08.

While the number of Indian students pursuing higher academic courses in Australia had risen at an annual rate of around 41 percent since 2002, the recent spate of attacks has resulted in around 4,000 aspirants from India cancelling their plans to study Down Under.

Consequent to such attacks, a recent study did forecast a 20 percent drop in Indian students going to Australia in 2010, costing 78 million Australian dollars. (ANI)