By IANS,
Melbourne:Indian High Commissioner Sujatha Singh Sunday asked expatriates not to allow “a few bad elements” to sour the relationship between India and Australia and said she was in constant touch with the authorities to ensure the safety of the Indian community.
Addressing a gathering of Sikhs at Blackburn’s Gurdwara here, she said: “I would like to assure you that both governments are united in their desire to see progress in bringing the perpetrators of these incidents to justice and in bringing these incidents to a complete stop, ensuring that they do not happen again.”
The remarks come in the backdrop of a series of attacks on Indians in the past few days. Two of the attacks proved fatal. While Ranjodh Singh was killed in New South Wales Dec 29, Nitin Garg was fatally stabbed here Jan 2.
Singh said she had been in daily – “even sometimes hourly” – contact with the relevant Australian authorities to address safety concerns of the Indian community, The Australian reported.
“The incidents that have taken place in recent times have troubled us all, Indians and Australians alike. They have been condemned in the strongest possible terms by all right-thinking people,” she said.
She asked the Indian community not to allow “a few bad elements” to sour the relationship between the two countries and assured that the Indian government was “very closely monitoring” the well-being of Indians in Australia.
On the alleged attack at a gurdwara in Lynbrook last week, Singh said: “The incident of arson is receiving the full attention of the concerned authorities”.
The under-construction gurdwara in Melbourne was damaged due to a fire that was allegedly started by some miscreants Thursday.