India wants better measures by Australia on student attacks: Tharoor

KOCHI: Noting that India was "deeply anguished" over continuing attacks on its students in Australia, Union Minister Shashi Tharoor on Satu said New Delhi expects "better measures" from that Government.

"We are deeply anguished over the attacks. India wants to see better measures taken by the Australian government," the Minister of state for External Affairs said. "We have conveyed our concerns at the highest possible level. Our Prime Minister has spoken about it to his Australian counterpart," he said at a meet-the-press programme here organised by the Ernakulam Press Club.

However, Tharoor said the Australian government has reciprocated with certain measures. Referring to the controversy over his earlier comments that it was a domestic issue, he said certain remarks of his were taken out of context and "misinterpreted" by some people.

"This is a domestic issue and it is not equivalent to the South African apartheid where we were opposing the measures taken by the government and in Australia we are working on the same side of the government," the minister said.

Indian government cannot protect their students in Australia as it is a sovereign country. In the same way, India will not allow foreign countries to protect their citizens in India. Some of the attacks have racial connotations, he said.