22-year-old Indian student attacked in Australia

In yet another racial attack on Indians in Australia, a 22-year-old student was allegedly assaulted by a teenager in Adelaide after making 'rude' comments about his turban.

Police said the student suffered a broken nose in the assault in Adelaide's busy market area of Rundle Mall on Thursday and that they have arrested a 17-year-old youth in this connection. They said the attacker has been bailed to appear in the Adelaide Youth Court.

The attack comes after Indian students in Melbourne and Sydney have held series of rallies over violent attacks and repeated calls for an inquiry into racial attacks against them.

Local media quoted the victim, who requested anonymity, as saying that the attacker started a confrontation by making 'rude comments' about his turban.

In another incident, Pakistani student Yasir Raja, 26, believes his Holden Commodore was torched because of its 'Raja' number plate. Raja said friends living in the Enfield area had increased security around their homes in fear of racist attacks.

Attacks on Indian students not racial: Oppn spokeswoman
Australia's opposition immigration spokeswoman Sharman Stone on Friday denied any racial angle into the violent attacks on Indian students in Sydney and Melbourne.

Stone said she believed the thugs were targeting students carrying expensive items like laptop computers. "I don't think it's a case of ... that here's an Indian student let's give him a hard time," Stone, a former manager of international development at the University of Melbourne, was quoted as saying by an AAP report.

"If you're moving around late at night... at our railway stations because you've got a job at the local 7/11, you are perhaps carrying a computer, you're a bit of a sitting duck," she said.

"That's shameful," Stone said of the attacks. She said while the assaults on Indians would be unlikely to affect diplomatic ties with India, parents in that country may be more reluctant to send their children to Australia.

The federal government had been 'very slack' in monitoring and accrediting education agents, who brought overseas students to Australia, Stone said.

Meanwhile, University of Australia's vice-chancellor for international issues, Daryl Le Grew has sought swift national approach to address the issue, a report in 'Sydney Morning Herald' said.

"Having created a $16 billion education industry, we have to make sure enough of the returns actually go back in to sustaining it," he said.