New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on Thursday said Indian students must select their courses with care before they travel to Australia--advice given after the killings of two Indians in that country.
“The kind of courses for which are students are going for (in Australia) are certainly not encouraging,” said Krishna.
“None of us need to be hysterical, but all that we expect is that Indians, whether they are students or otherwise, are safe in countries where they go,” he said.
Krishna’s statement is seen as a response to Australian acting Foreign Minister Simon Crean’s statement that Indian leaders must “avoid hysteria” about the safety of Indian students.
"Even over the Christmas period there has been a spate of stabbings. This unfortunately is a violent threat and a violent tendency that has emerged. It so happens that one of the victims is Indian. There have been other victims. Australia and Melbourne is not the only city in the world in which this happens. It also happens in Delhi, it happens in Mumbai, and it is the responsibility of all law enforcement authorities to get on top of those issues," Crean had said.
About 115,000 Indians have studied in Australia in the last 12 months, but attacks on members of the community have created fears that the country may not be a safe education destination.
The fears increased after Nitin Garg was fatally stabbed in Melbourne on Saturday and Ranjodh Singh's partially-charred body was found in New South Wales on December 29.
The number of Indians applying for visas to study in Australia has fallen by almost half, heightening fears for the country's $17 billion international education industry, the Sydney Morning Herald reported on Thursday.
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