I don’t like to enter into political arguments on luvisaverb, and I don’t intend to change that policy, but I feel like commenting on recent developments in Australia with regard to it’s Indian ex-pats.

Physical attacks, including, sadly, at least two murders, have been perpetrated against some young Indian men living in the eastern states of Australia in recent months.  There is no question that this is unacceptable and it appears police and government authorities are acting to rout out the offenders¹.  The response of India’s political leaders to date appears to have been to issue a travel warning to it’s citizens living in, or considering travel to, Australia².  In addition India’s diplomatic staff in Australia have warned of likely damage to an otherwise excellent relationship between the two nations.  The response by unknown technocrats, presumably in India, has been to hack Australian web sites; in particular that of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF)³.

In all this the question that comes to my mind is how much impact can the actions of a few people have on the friendship of two nations? Clearly the attackers are not in the majority in Australia, and do not represent the views of the Australian government.  Morally, diplomatically and economically it is most certainly in the interest of the Australian government to rectify, as best it can, the issue at hand.  So how is this achieved?  More vigilance?  Personal bodyguards for Indian nationals in Australia, and if so for how long?  Is there any value in issuing threats, whether diplomatically or by individuals, against the Australian government for these attacks?  What if the perpetrators are caught and they turn out to be Pakistani militants?  Does the focus then shift to that government?

There is a vital requirement of self restraint when these issues arise, and it is the leaders of our respective countries that are responsible for ensuring that this is exercised.  The current actions of some murderous and hateful few in Australia do not represent the Australian government or it’s people.  Australia should take all reasonable steps as a federation to protect every person within it’s borders, including supplying resources to state and territory law enforcement agencies.  Likewise, it is vitally important that the Indian government demonstrate it’s power of restraint.  I, for one, hope the two governments can work together to help address these problems.