Attacks will be checkmated: Australia to India

London: Australia has set up a high-level group to look into the increasing attacks on Indian students in that country, Indian External Affairs Minister S M Krishna was told by the Australian foreign minister in London on Wednesday. He hoped that the attacks would be checkmated soon.

"The group will hold its first meeting by the end of this week and will report back to New Delhi," Krishna told journalists after an hour-long meeting in London with Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith.

The group consists of representatives of the federal government of Australia and the state of Victoria.

"The Australian federal and provincial governments have taken our concerns seriously and a high-level working group has been set up by the federal government of Australia and the Victoria government," Krishna said.

"They will comprehensively study the reported incidents and their implications."

"I have been assured by Foreign Minister Stephen Smith that as soon as the high-level working group comes out with its assessment, they will communicate it to the government of India," he said.

Krishna said that in the meantime, the Australian government has stepped up community policing in the affected areas.

"As a result of these steps, I am hoping we will see that the unprovoked attacks on Indian students are going to be checkmated."

Krishna and Smith are in London, leading tneir countries' delegations to a global conference on Afghanistan Thursday.

Following mounting outrage in India over the fatal stabbing of Nitin Garg, a 21-year-old Indian student, early this month, the Australian government recently handed over to India a police dossier of high-profile attacks on Indians over the past year.

The dossier, prepared by Victoria Police, was handed over after Smith telephoned Krishna January 11 to express his condolences over Garg's murder.

The spate of attacks on Indians in Australia has caused an outcry in India. Two of the vicious attacks proved fatal. The assaults have strained relations between Canberra and New Delhi.