Asking students not to go to Australia a possibility: Krishna

“But,I think that(the advisory) would not be in the interest of our bilateral relatiaons. So I am not thinking on those lines,” he told NDTV.

Krishna however kept the option of asking Indian students not to travel to Australia open saying it could possibly be one of the actions that the government can take if the “present trend”(rise in attacks) continued.

Krishna said he was sure Australian authorities would take cognisance of the fact that India talks “softly” but certainly when the decisive moment comes the country can also act which,he said,will not be in the interest of either of

the two countries.

He feared that if the string of attacks continued the way it has been in the last few days the flow of Indian students to Australia might slow down and could unfortunately taper off also.

“This will have to be kept in mind by the Australian authorities and also the provincial governments,” he said.

The Minister said it was unfortunate that though there were students from several countries studying in Australia it is only a section of foreign students,mainly from India,that are being attacked.

“So,I think this angle needs to be looked into a little more deeply by the Australian authorities,” he added.

In the first fatality in a series of attacks on Indian students in recent months,Nitin garg died in a Melbourne hospital early this month after being stabbed in his abdomen.