The Australian Government is facing a lot of flak lately owing to the spate of attacks particularly on Indian national studying or working in Australia. The most recent attack proved to be fatal. Nitin Garg, an Indian national studying in Melbourne, was stabbed at around 10 pm while on his way to work.

Commenting on the attack Acting Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Crean said that there was no evidence of the attack being racist in nature. He also said that there was an increase in crime over Christmas, particularly opportunist stabbing, mugging and theft. However, the fact that Mr. Garg’s wallet was not touched has added to the Indian ire.

Spokesperson of Federation of Indian Students of Australia, Gautam Gupta was quite vocal about his opinion saying that the Federal government was blaming the victims. He has urged iconic cricket greats Shane Warne and Ricky Ponting to take up the protest too.

The government is willing to take steps as soon as some racial bias can be attached to these crimes, says Opposition's Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop. In meanwhile, she advises students to be careful. The Indian government is not placated by these assurances. The Indian External Affairs Minister, S. M. Krishna has severely condemned the attack and commented, “It certainly will have some bearing on the bilateral ties between our two countries”.