US sensitive about detained Indian students: Roemer

NEW DELHI - US Ambassador to India, Timothy J. Roemer, on Sunday said that United States of America is sensitive about the plight of detained Indian students and their problems, and intends to take steps to prevent their exploitation.

“This is certainly something that we are going to be very attentive and sensitive to. We are very proud with the fact that there are 103,845 Indian students in American schools. We want more students to come to America. As a member of the 9/11 commission, this is an issue that we pay very careful attention to. We want our doors to be open for education,” Roemer told reporters during a walk rally for cancer.

“We want to bring in more entrepreneurship, so we will be attentive to those problems that these Indian students are experiencing and we want to balance that with making sure that there aren’t segments of the society that try to take advantage of students and exploit those students. So we will have more to say about this case moves along in the days and weeks ahead,” he added.

On Wednesday, Union Human Resource and Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal demanded an apology from the United States over the recent comments on radio collars made by Juliet Wurr, a public affairs officer with the American consulate in Hyderabad.

Sibal said the United States must apologise for its official’s comments over the radio anklets attached on Indian students of the California-based Tri-Valley University, which was closed down by the US authorities for alleged visa fraud.

Speaking at the annual General meeting of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Sibal expressed dissatisfaction at Wurr’s statement and said: “I am absolutely disturbed by the comments that I heard yesterday on television. But I do believe that on reflection the lady, who made those comments should, in all fairness, apologise.”

Sibal further said the Ministry of External Affairs is taking up the matter with appropriate authorities.

Juliet Wurr had described the radio collars as trendy and said that the only other option these students had was to wear jump suits and remain in prison.

Overseas Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi had last Sunday criticized the U.S. authorities for their inhuman treatment of radio tagging of duped Indian students involved in the Tri-valley row and assured a probe into the matter.

Ravi said he is in constant touch with External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna, over the issue and also is in touch with Indian embassy in Washington.

He added that strict action would be taken if agents in Andhra Pradesh, from where most of the students had gone to study in the closed Tri-Valley University, were found guilty in issuing fraud Visas. (ANI)