Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar with a group of African students in New Delhi.
African students living in the country today expressed "deep concern" over the recent string of attacks on their compatriots and sought strict action from the police and local authorities against those who take law into their own hands to settle dispute with them.
"It doesn't matter whether the issue is racial or not. This is a democratic nation with a police system to look into law and order. Then how can the locals take law in their own hands instead of informing the police about whatever the matter was," said Abdou Brahim, President of Association of African Students in India.
Mr Brahim was part of a delegation of African nationals which met Delhi Police Commissioner Alok Kumar Verma at the Police Headquarters here this evening and demanded strict action in the matter.
"The problem is that the local population is acting as police. This raises deep concern and we totally condemn such act," he said, adding, the police chief has assured them of taking several steps, including well-coordinated sensitisation programmes and heightened patrolling in sensitive areas, to ensure safety and security of African people living in New Delhi.
"The matter is no longer restricted to policing. Much has to be done at the local, community level," said another students' union member who was part of delegation. Members of other African students' associations have alleged that the attacks in south Delhi were racial and deliberate in nature.
"I call it a racist issue, which is deliberate...When you walk on the roads they call you names...We are seriously unsafe in India," claimed another African student union member.
Talking to a news channel, Ola Jackson, member of African Students Association, said, "Scuffle is a minor word for the issue...When somebody tries to kill someone, it is not a minor scuffle, but a serious issue."
Union Minister General VK Singh yesterday had claimed the attack on African nationals in the national capital was a "minor scuffle" which was "blown up" by the media.
There has been a spate of attacks on African nationals in the last few days including killing of a Congolese youth in national capital and assault on a 23-year-old Nigerian student in Hyderabad.