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Involve us in protecting Indians: FISA

SINGAPORE: The Federation of Indian Students of Australia (FISA) urged the Australian authorities to co-opt it for promoting the safety of Indians enrolled at the educational institutions in that country.

FISA president Amit Menghani told The Hindu from Melbourne on Wednesday that “there has been a communication gap” between his group and the Australian authorities at different levels. “We want them to consider us as part of a solution and not [as] the problem-creators,” he said.

The FISA, he said, was, in fact, trying to convey this message to Canberra and the local authorities in Melbourne and elsewhere through India’s diplomatic missions.

Asked whether the vigilante groups of Indian students were being disbanded after Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s firm warning, Mr. Menghani said: “We have been asking them not to take the law into their own hands. … We are not too sure whether they are carrying any weapons. We are condemning violence. We are asking them to calm down. We don’t have anything to do with the violence.” Moreover, the FISA had no influence over any group that might be carrying weapons, he said.

The vigilante squads sprang up after suggestions from the local authorities that the affected students could, perhaps, move about in groups, Mr. Menghani said.

Unrelated to this issue of vigilante groups, the FISA “will start self-defence classes for the Indian students and for victims in Australia.” Without wishing to portray this plan as training in martial arts, Mr. Menghani said the lessons would focus on “the softer technique of self-defence which is not harmful [to others].”

As an association of “volunteers,” the FISA had started “art-of-living classes.”

The association, he said, was composed of not only students but also professionals from a wide spectrum, non-resident Indians and Australians, including those of Indian origin.

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