Oz Indian community urged to remain calm after death of Gurshan Singh

MELBOURNE - Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Victorian Premier John Brumby have urged the Indian community to remain calm and not link three-year-old Indian boy Gurshan Singh’s death to attacks on Indian students and taxi drivers in Melbourne.

Gurshan’s body was found dumped by the side of a road in Melbourne’s suburbs six hours after he disappeared from a relative’s home in Lalor on Thursday.

The tragedy came a day after Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith met Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to discuss the safety of Indian students and strengthening trade and economic ties.

Prime Minister Rudd said if it was murder, people need to pause and introspect about its implications on Australia’s already strained relations with India.

“The death of any little child causes everyone in this country to stop, pause, think, reflect,” The Herald Sun quoted Rudd, as saying.

“If this is a case of murder, there is nothing worse than the brutal murder of a little child. The authorities are investigating it and we have every confidence the authorities will get to the bottom of it,” he added.

Victorian Premier Brumby said he found the case “personally distressing”, and urged the public not to jump to conclusions about any racial aspect to the crime.

He said the death was an unthinkable tragedy and expressed deep sorrow for the family and relatives.

“The most important thing is we find the cause of death and bring those responsible to justice,” Brumby said.

“I’m not going to get into the Australia-India debate. It is about mourning the death of a three-year-old child, and the loss of a child so young is a terrible, terrible tragedy that I find personally distressing,” he added.

Meanwhile, India’s Consul-General in Melbourne, Anita Nayar, said she was in constant touch with investigators, but declined to say what they had told her. (ANI)