Act or people-to-people contact to be hit: India to Oz

Talking tough, India asked Australia to put in more effective security measures to check the attacks on Indians there, failing which it said the people-to-people exchanges which includes those going for education and tourism will get "adversely" affected.

Expressing deep "anguish" over the spate of attacks against Indians, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna said on Wednesday that the matter has once again been taken up with the Australian government.

Referring to his recent telephonic conversation with his Australian counterpart Stephen Smith, Krishna said, "I had emphasised the need for immediate corrective measures and for a sense of urgency in dealing with the ongoing investigation."

"Unless there is an immediate stop to all such attacks, our people-to-people level exchanges, which includes education and tourism, will get adversely affected," he said.

Refusing to directly comment on the comments of a former Australian security official over the nature of these attacks, the minister said "India takes note of that remark" but it was up to Australia to find out the "real motives" and underlining causes for such attacks.

He said Australia needs to take a view on whether these are racially motivated attacks or "opportunistic urban crimes" as the government there has been describing them.

Australia's former defence chief General Peter Cosgrove has said, "Attacks recently by groups of people on individuals look like a profiling approach to people from the sub-continent... Rather than say 'nothing to worry about', I'd rather look more closely. If you didn't suspect a racial strand you'd be mad."

Attacks may affect ties with India: Oz

Hours after India warned it of "adverse" effect of the continuing attacks on Indians,

Australia on Wednesday acknowledged that it would impact on some aspects of bilateral ties, but refused to treat it as a threat to overall relationship between the two countries.

Terming as "measured and constructive" reaction of Indian government to these attacks, Ambassador of Australia Peter Varghese said, "This (assaults) is an issue which have potential to flow on to the sort of things that the minister has mentioned from education relationship to the tourism relationship."

Asked if he sees the Indian reaction as a threat to the bilateral relationship at overall level, he said "I don't read it as a threat at all. I just see it as an observation about what the consequences might be.

"I don't think it is an unreasonable observation to say that the continuation of these attacks would not have an effect on the people-to-people exchanges that includes education and tourism."