‘Australian attacks on Indians, Nepalis not racist’

KATHMANDU - With Australia reporting the first attack on a Nepali student after a series of assaults on Indians, an education consultant in Nepal says the incidents should be regarded as criminal attacks and not racist.

Ricky Shrestha, 32, who spent 12 years in Sydney first as a student and then worked there, says Australia has always been regarded as one of the safest destinations by Nepali students.

“At least five Nepali students have been killed in the US,” Shrestha, now an Australian citizen who runs an education consultancy in Kathmandu called Sydney Express Education Consultancy, told IANS.

“There are also reports of racist attacks in the UK but Nepalis have always been treated warmly in Australia.”

Shrestha links the attack on Bipin Shrestha, a Nepali student enrolled for accountancy at the Raffles College in Sydney, to the growing crime rate in Australia.

“Due to economic constraints, students from India, Nepal and other developing countries are forced to take up jobs in areas that may not be safe,” he said. “Also, their working hours start near dawn and end around midnight when criminal attacks increase.

“If these attacks were racist, why don’t they occur during daytime as well?” he asked.

Shrestha says no European or Japanese or Asians from developed countries have been attacked simply because they do not take up such jobs.

Bipin, the 30-year Nepali student now fighting for his life in a Sydney hospital after he was attacked by two aboriginal Australians Jan 31, had gone to work around 4.30 a.m.

Shrestha said the average Australian is friendly. The attacks, according to him, are due to growing alcoholism, illiteracy and unemployment.

The attack on the Nepali student will not affect the number of Nepalis heading towards Australia, he predicted.

“Though people have been killed in the US, has the flow of Nepalis stopped?” he asked. “Education is cheaper in Australia, the climate suits Nepalis better and the recent suspension of British student visas to Nepalis will make people continue to eye Australia.”