Sydney, August 6
Australia today vowed to take “firm action” against those responsible for the recent attacks on Indian students as External Affairs Minister S M Krishna became the first senior leader to visit Down Under to convey New Delhi’s concerns in this regard.

During his meeting with New South Wales (NSW) Premier Nathan Rees, Krishna, who is on a five-day visit to Australia, was assured that firm action will be taken against the perpetrators.

Rees also assured Krishna that inputs from the Indian community will be included in the action plan for international students. He informed the minister that a meeting of the task force on the issue is to be held tomorrow.

Krishna said he was happy with what he has heard from the NSW Premier. “Indians by and large are most welcome in Australia,” he was quoted as saying by ABC.

The External Affairs Minister, who met the Indian community representatives to get first-hand information about the problems faced by them, earlier said that “well being and safety of Indians overseas is a top priority for the government of India.”

The Indian community leaders emphasised that the immediate action by Australian government in every case was necessary and asked Krishna to tell authorities of this country to be more cooperative. They, however, also admitted that Australia was not a racist country.

During their meeting with Krishna, the students demanded that an emergency fund should be created for refunding of the fees in case of closure of colleges.

The students also complained of exploitation by unscrupulous agents, who take fees in advance.

The minister said advertisements in India about the colleges here should be certified by consulates to prevent wrong information from being circulated among the prospective students.

“Students should be given what they are promised of as they take loans to come to Australia to study. We need to reassure our students as well as their anxious parents in India on this account,” Krishna said.

The External Affairs Minister also met NSW Opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull, police commissioner and immigration officials.

Krishna is scheduled to visit Melbourne as well and meet Indian community representatives there. He will also hold talks with Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and his counterpart Stephen Smith during his visit. — PTI 

Pakistan has described the information shared by India against chief of the banned Jamat-ud-Dawah as insufficient but said it would continue to pursue the case against Hafiz Saeed in the court according to law.

Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit during the weekly briefing said the latest dossier handed over by the Indian authorities to the Pakistan High Commission does not contain any reference to Saeed. It was meant to answer four questions raised by Pakistan.

He said the relations with India were now heading in the right direction and foreign secretaries of the two countries would meet soon. However, the time and venue of the proposed meeting has not yet been finalized, he added.

Meanwhile, confusion prevailed in both countries over conflicting statements in which Indian authorities were quoted as saying that additional evidence has been provided to Pakistan against Saeed sufficient for his trial in a court of law. However, Pakistan maintained that no fresh evidence has been given by India.

Asked about the uproar in the Indian Lok Sabha over indefinite adjournment of hearing in Hafiz Saeed’s case, the spokesman said the court had to defer proceedings at the request of the Punjab government due to resignation of its advocate-general Raza Farooq as a sequel to the Supreme Court verdict on emergency. 

Dhaka, August 6
As Bangladesh marks the 68th death anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore today, several of his memorabilia, including a ledger where the poet maintained his bank accounts of the Nobel Prize money, are in a state of disrepair in the country.

Bangladesh’s Department of Archaeology has not taken adequate steps to preserve the Tagore’s memorabilia, including 11 letters written by his son Rathindranath. They have been neglected since 1946 at Kaligram Rathinadranath Institution Office under Atrai sub-division in Naogaon district, The Daily Star newspaper reported today.

A senior official of the department said the organisation had been informed 16 years ago about the rare manuscripts but has still to collect them, the report said.

M. Matiur Rahman Mamun, founder general secretary of Rabindra Shahitya Parishad, Atrai sub-division, said two iron safes are negligently kept at the local land office and post office.

The authority, he said, has been informed about the iron safes along with other memorabilia, such as a ledger where the poet maintained his bank accounts of the Nobel Prize money. He became Asia’s first Nobel laureate when he won the 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature.

The ledger was collected by Mamun from local sources and is still to be handed over to the department as a rare antique, said sources. Mamun handed it over to the local administration on May 8 but the field officer of the department is unable to provide information about its location.

According to the report, several of Tagore memorabilia such as a clock, bathtub, and mirrors are uncared for at the Potisar Kachharibari, an estate that belonged to Tagore’s family.

Earlier, the officials made a commitment to the locals that Potisar Kachharibari would be transformed into a museum but that has not come about. — PTI