The Hindu : Front Page : Concern over attacks on students

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Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008
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Concern over attacks on students

VHR to lead delegation of State MPs to New Delhi and meet Pranab Mukherjee

Only brilliant students from Andhra Pradesh being targeted: VHR
The U.S. police are just handing over bodies; a permanent solution is needed

HYDERABAD: The attack on Pulluri Sashanka, a native of Warangal district, studying in the United States has raised disturbing questions about the safety of students from Andhra Pradesh there.

Coming a fortnight after the killing of city girl Arpana Jinaga, working with the EMC Corporation, this is the sixth in the string of attacks on migrant youth from the State (including one in the UK) in less than a year. Mr. Sashanka had a providential escape from death and declared out of danger unlike six others who were brutally murdered in separate attacks.

Excellent record

A common threat that runs through all these ghastly incidents is the excellent academic track record of the victims. For instance, one of them Arpana Jinaga, figured in the list of top 20 chip designers after a contest, becoming the first Asian to get the honour.

Congress MP V. Hanumanth Rao, who has been voicing serious concern over the issue, is leading a delegation of the State MPs to External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and his deputy Anand Sharma on November 19.

“It is a serious issue and only brilliant students from Andhra Pradesh are being targeted. The US police are just handing over bodies when there is need for a permanent solution,” he told The Hindu, adding he would raise the issue in the Parliament when it resumes its proceedings from December 10.

From the day when Allam Kiran Kumar and Chandrasekhar Reddy, pursuing doctorates in chemistry and biology respectively, were shot dead inside the former’s apartment on the Louisiana State University (LSU) campus at Baton Rouge on December 13, 2007, the spree of incidents is continuing. But the motives and people behind the killings continue to remain a mystery.

Reasons unknown

‘Home invasion’ is said to be the reason behind killing of Kiran Kumar and Chandrasekhar Reddy.

But the reasons behind the mysterious death of A. Srinivas of Korutla in Karimnagar district pursuing his Master’s in internal medicine at Scranton-Temple Research Programme at Mercy Hospital in Scranton near Pennsylvania on March 1 remains unknown.

This was followed by the killing of Vijayawada girl V.S. Jyotirmayee at her apartment at Handsworth in Birmingham, UK, on May 6 and the shooting down of Soumya Reddy and her cousin Vikram Reddy near the Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville on September 14. Arpana was killed in her Valley View apartment at Redmond – Woodsville Road, Seattle on November 1, but her parents learnt about her death only on November 4.

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