Working ‘very hard’ to prevent attacks on Indian-origin people: United States

Sandeep Dikshit

New Delhi, February 16

The White House has said that the United States (US) President Joe Biden and his administration are working “very hard’’ to prevent and disrupt attacks on Indians and Indian-origin students after a spate of such incidents in recent weeks.

“There’s no excuse for violence, certainly based on race, gender, religion or any other factor. That’s just unacceptable here in the US,’’ said Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby at the National Security Council in the White House, on Thursday.

“The President and this administration have been working very hard to make sure we’re doing everything we can to work with state and local authorities to try to thwart and disrupt those kinds of attacks and make it clear to anybody who might consider them that they’ll be held properly accountable,’’ said Kirby in response to a question.

Five Indian students have died in quick succession in the US since the start of this year and over the past year. There have been reports of Indian-origin people including Sikhs being targeted. Indians have become the single largest nationality among the 10 lakh foreign students. Their number is estimated by the Open Doors report at over 2.5 lakh. Last year, US missions here issued over 1.4 lakh student visas – the highest for any country for the third year in succession.

MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had said there is no interconnectedness or linkage between the deaths of the five Indian origin students. Of them, two are Indian citizens and the Indian consulates are extending all possible assistance to them, he added.

One case is of Vivek Saini who was brutally bludgeoned to death by a homeless person. The attacker has been arrested. The second was studying at University of Cincinnati and the preliminary report has ruled out foul play.

“The other three are US nationals. You should understand this. Their medical reports have not yet come. I can tell in these there is no foul play. I would request you not to see interconnectedness. These are not related,’’ Jaiswal had said at a media briefing on February 8.