Nitin Garg's murder has outraged the compassionate conscience of Australia, even as its law enforcement machinery remains in denial
Nitin Garg's murder has outraged the compassionate conscience of Australia, even as its law enforcement machinery remains in denial
It has taken the brutal murder of a 21-year old Sikh masters' graduate, with permanent residence in Australia and a starry-eyed vision of his professional future, to make this nation's media finally take serious note of the spate of unprovoked attacks on Indian students and young professionals for almost two years now.
As a result of prominent and detailed coverage in the print and electronic media, Garg's gruesome murder
has outraged the essentially compassionate conscience of this nation, even as its law enforcement machinery remains in denial, superciliously refusing to accept the existence of a problem of cancerous proportions.
Meanwhile, Australian politicians continue to mouth sanctimonious platitudes, pious promises of effective action and insincere professions of good intent at home and during their farcical, unending trips to India..
Reflecting the outrage in India over the senseless attacks, yesterday's Sydney Morning Herald published what it termed a "short, violent history" of "heinous crime on humanity" in the words of India's Minister of External Affairs S M Krishna.
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Meanwhile, Tourism Australia has forecast that 4,000 fewer Indian students will study in Australia this year at a cost of $78 million to the economy.
Indians constitute the majority of overseas students in Australia and are estimated to contribute in the region of $2.3 billion to its education sector.
Meanwhile, mystery surrounds the discovery of a badly burnt body in the New South Wales city of Griffith, which is believed to be that of an Indian student from Melbourne.
With feelings running high in the Indian community, even as the authorities categorically deny that Garg's murder was racially motivated, Gautam Gupta, a spokesman for the Federation of Indian Students insists Nitin Garg's friends told him they believed it was purely a racist attack.
"His mobile phone and his wallet were still there," he is quoted as saying.
"From their point of view there can be no other motivation for it than race. Everyone I have spoken to says there's a lot of fear and a lot of anger about it.
"There's a lot of frustration because of the question of racism. What we have to see is how this anger is manifested,"u00a0 Gupta said.
Writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, Gerard Henderson, executive director of The Sydney Institute, theorises that the attacks on Indians "teach some harsh lessons about racism."
Stressing the need for greater disclosure about street crime, Henderson says, "The state's (Victoria's) premier, John Brumby, heads a Labor government that gives the impression of being unduly sensitive to upsetting some vocal minorities."
He goes on to point out, "The New South Wales (NSW) police force has an organised crime directorate that includes both an Asian Crime Squad and a Middle East Organised Crime Squad.
"The NSW government makes no apologies for targeting suspected criminals in response to perceived need. Victoria Police has no equivalent units.
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There have been suggestions that young Indians are being targeted by other ethnic groups. The Victorian government has been silent on this matter.
"The immediate response of Victoria Police to any suggestion that attacks on Indian students are racially motivated is to throw the switch in denial, or at least to avoidance.
Following assaults on Indian students last May, Victoria Police's deputy commissioner Kieren Walshe declared Indians were not being targeted because of their race. There was no evidence to support this assertion."
In a damning revelation, Henderson writes, "The killing of Garg initiated a similar response. A Victoria police sergeant, David Snare, was reported yesterday stating police did not believe the attack was racially motivated.
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He then went on to declare that 'to draw any conclusion as to motive might interfere with the investigations'. In other words, don't talk about race crime".
In a well-argued editorial headlined 'A Time to Calm the Tension', nationally-circulated daily newspaper The Australian says Garg's death "must be kept in perspective".
It stresses that "calm assessment, not hyperbole, is what is needed from both nations at this moment."
This is easier said than done when you consider the sadness beyond belief caused to the family of Nitin Garg and the innumerable innocent and helpless youths whose only fault was to seek to improve their lot in a land whose pavements they believe to be paved with gold.
Callous comment
Australia's acting foreign minister Simon Creanu00a0 brusquely said on television last night: "We are doing all we can
(in the matter). What we cannot do is bring him (Garg) back to life".
Crean urged Indian leaders to "avoid fuelling hysteria" over the killing and criticised S M Krishna for calling the stabbing a "heinous crime on humanity."
"Melbourne is not the only place that death happens (sic)," Crean said. "They happen in Mumbai. They happen in Delhi. It's an unfortunate fact of life."
Callousness of this sort neither mitigates the pain nor alleviates the misgivings of the 1 million Indian students in Australia.
It's time effective and deterrent pro-active measures were taken.
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