Sydney: A student from India was killed in Melbourne on Saturday resulting in protest through out the nation. In the past few months, lots of Indian students have been attacked by the Australians, which has damaged Australia’s reputation and reducing the mutli-million dollar foreign student sector.

The deceased was Nitin Garg, 21 hailed from the city of Punjab was stabbed to death on Saturday night when he was on going to the fast food center where he worked as a part time employee.

Police are looking for the culprits and have described the incident as vicious.

The Australian Deputy Prime minister Julia Gillard condemned the attack. He said “This is a nation that welcomes international students. We want to make them welcome, this is a welcoming and accepting country”.

Mr.SM Krishna who is the External Affair ministers has told the media that this brutal attack is creating deep anger in India and can disrupt the bilateral ties.

After coal and iron ore, Australia’s third largest export earner is through international student sector. It was estimated to be around A13 billion in the year 2007, but a sudden drop of 20 percent in the year 2010 has been reported.

In the year 2009, several attacks on the Indian student especially in Melbourne resulted in the decline of foreign students and frequent protest by the students. Mr Gillard and other Australian ministers visited Indian to assure that the foreign students safety will be given high priority.

Several Australian Universities have given reassurance to the students and their families that Australia was safe place to study. There were approximately 70,000 Indian students in Australian in the year 2009, but the count has been declining.