Australian PM vouches for safety of Indian students.

INDIA on Thursday raised the issue of racial attacks on its students with visiting Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd. He assured his government will do everything possible to prevent recurrence of such incidents.

The issue of attack on Indian students was raised by PM Manmohan Singh, who held wideranging talks on defence, maritime security, counter- terror and trade ties, with Rudd.

Amid reports of fresh attacks on Indian students, Rudd said his government was committed to taking all possible steps to ensure that foreign students, including nearly one lakh from India, were safe in his country.

" I am deeply disturbed and disgusted by the attacks and violence against any students.

These attacks will not be tolerated.

The Indian students represent the future of Indian and Australian business," he said.

Earlier in his address at the Indian Council of World Affairs, Rudd reiterated Australia's long- standing policy of not selling uranium to non- NPT countries.

He clarified that " it is not a policy directed at India. It applies globally, and it has been so since 1978 under different Australian governments." However, by saying this aspect of energy ties remained unresolved, Rudd held out a possibility that Australia may revise its policy.

Sources indicated that while Rudd may be keen to sell uranium, he faces stiff opposition from his party colleagues.

" We hope whenever Canberra decides to revise its policy, India will be among the first lot of countries to receive uranium," a senior official of the ministry of external affairs said. Australia has the highest uranium reserves in the world.

Rudd also underlined that Australia had never sought to isolate India on critical nuclear policy concerns. " Australia was an active supporter in the Nuclear Suppliers Group. This reflected Australia's appreciation of India's non- proliferation record."

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