Indian envoy in Oz visits Melbourne to assuage concerns

I / Melbourne January 18, 2010, 11:15 IST

India's top envoy in Australia has assured Indians that the government back home was "very closely monitoring" their well-being in this country, as she asked them to not allow "a few bad elements" to sour the otherwise warm Indo-Australian relationship.

Indian High Commissioner Sujatha Singh, who travelled to Melbourne, assured the Indian Sikh community that perpetrators of the alleged incident of arson on a gurdwara here will be brought to justice by the authorities.

Singh told the Indian community not to allow "a few bad elements" to sour "the warmth and good feeling", which continued to exist between the two nations.

Singh, who flew back to Canberrra today, assured the community that the Indian government was "very closely monitoring" the well-being of Indians in Australia.

Singh said she had been in daily -- "even sometimes hourly" -- contact with the relevant Australian authorities to address community's safety concerns.

"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.

On her visit to the Lynbrook Gurdawara yesterday, she said, "The incident of arson is receiving the full attention of the concerned authorities."

"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," Singh told the worshippers.

Singh also met president of another gurdawara in Blackburn, Dashran Singh, and vice-president of the Victorian Sikh Association, Jag Bal.

An incident of fire was reported at the gurdwara premises in Melbourne last week and police in probing the case. The incident came amidst a series of unabated attacks on Indians in the country, two of which turned fatal.

"Some of the unfortunate incidents of recent months affecting the Indian community are of great concern to all of us," Bal said, adding he hoped the high commissioner would be able to give him a firm indication of what assurances the Australian government had given her during their discussions over the past fortnight.

"I want to discuss what support or counselling is being given to the victims of race crimes in Melbourne," Bal said, according to media report here.

The report quoted Detective Sergeant Gary Kear as saying that contrary to initial police reports detectives did not believe the Lynbrook arsonists were young kids mucking about.

"Witnesses have told us that voices that were heard inside the temple were more mature," Kear said.

Last week the Blackburn temple wrote to Victoria Police requesting additional security, particularly at night. Two uniformed police officers were present at yesterday's service.