Amid concerns over the recent surge in the attack on Indian students in the United States, Eric Garcetti, the US Ambassador to India, on Friday said the Biden-led administration is "very committed" to assure Indians that the US is a "wonderful and safe" place to pursue higher studies.
Expressing regrets over the attacks on Indian students, he said that “our heart always is touched" by such tragedies. He, however, mentioned that the US has the highest number of Indian students than any nation in the world.
“Our heart is always touched when any tragedy, whether it is a life taken by somebody or any violence - no matter who they are. We are very committed to making sure that Indians know that the United States is a wonderful place to study and to be safe. We have more Indians studying in the US than any country in the world,” Garcetti said while speaking to ANI.
"We know tragedies will happen, it's our responsibility to make sure that we work together with the Indian government and that people know what they can do. Our hearts go out to the families in any of these tragedies," he added.
Indian students found dead in US under mysterious circumstances
Recently, a horrific attack in the United States on an Indian student from Hyderabad named Syed Mazahir Ali, who is is pursuing a master's degree at Indiana Wesleyan University, grabbed the attention of people in India. Ali was attacked by four armed thieves close to his Chicago home, resulting in critical injuries. Following the incident, a video of him bleeding went viral on social media.
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“Four people attacked me. I was returning home with a food packet in my hand. I slipped near my house and the four people kicked and punched me. Please help me, bro. Please help me,” Ali can be heard saying in the video.
After the incident, Mazahir Ali's wife Ruqiya Fatima wrote to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar seeking medical and legal help. “This is to state that my husband Syed Mazahir Ali who was pursuing a Masters in Information and Technology from Indiana Wesley University, I got a call around 6 pm on February 4 from one of my husband’s friends that he had been attacked very badly and robbed at Campbell Ave, Chicago while he was near his apartment and has been taken to some hospital,” she wrote in a letter on Tuesday.
The event has highlighted the precarious security conditions that Indian students in the US are subject to. There have been multiple reports of violent attacks against Indian students throughout the US in recent times. Several Indian origin students, including Vivek Saini, Shreyas Reddy Beniger, Neel Acharya and Akul Dhawan, were found dead under mysterious circumstances there.