London: As attacks against Indians continued unabated in Australia, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna today met his Australian counterpart Stephen Smith for the second time in two days and is understood to have conveyed displeasure over the assaults.
Krishna met Smith here on the sidelines of the conference on Afghanistan hosted by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
During the meeting, Krishna is understood to have conveyed India's displeasure over continuing attacks against the community members despite assurances from the Australian Government.
Ahead of the meeting, Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur in New Delhi expressed "dismay" at the continuing attacks against Indians.
This is the second time Krishna is meeting Smith in two days as the two held discussions yesterday on the attacks against Indians. Krishna had met Smith yesterday and had conveyed that these attacks are particularly worrisome as the Indian community members appeared to have been singled out and it was becoming increasingly difficult to accept these attacks as mere opportunistic crimes devoid of any racial motives.
He also impressed upon Smith that there has been no visible progress so far in most of the investigations into previous attacks including in the fatal murder of 21-year-old Nitin Garg earlier this month.
It was the responsibility of the Australian authorities to bring the perpetrators of these crimes to book at the earliest and immediately put effective measures into practice to prevent any further attacks, Krishna had said.
Smith had informed Krishna that a high-level Working Group had been set up under his overall charge to deal on an urgent basis with this issue.
Kaur said meanwhile, the Indian High Commissioner in Australia is currently visiting Brisbane.
He "is meeting community leaders and members of the Queensland Police authorities to discuss and deal with the recent attacks, and to ensure that remedial measures are urgently undertaken," she said.
Today's meeting came as four more Indian youths were attacked in Brisbane.
"Four more attacks on Indians in Brisbane, Queensland, took place," Sky News reported, without identifying victims. "Three of them have been directed at cab drivers, one who told how he was punched and dragged from his taxi," it said.
The fourth victim was a 23-year-old pizza delivery boy who was bashed up with a cricket bat and robbed while making a delivery in Brisbane.
-PTI
First Published: Friday, January 29, 2010, 00:36