Indians were targetted and driven out from Uganda by Idi Amin in 70’s. Looks like it ia repeat of same thing again. An Indian national was killed and businesses of people of Indian origin and a Hindu temple were damaged when a protest demonstration turned violent in Kampala yesterday, as reports suggested Indians had once again become targets of attacks in Uganda after three decades.
India has strongly taken up the matter with Uganda and been assured that the Ugandan government would take all necessary steps to provide security to Indian nationals.
Are Indians soft targets in countries like Uganda? The resentment against Indians was the result of a Ugandan government plan to hand over part of the forest reserve to the Sugar Corporation of Uganda, a business house run by an Indian.
The body of Devang Rawal – the Indian youth who was killed in Uganda riots – was flown in to Mumbai from Kampala on Sunday.
The body will be flown to Ahmedabad later on Sunday. Twenty-five-year-old Rawal was stoned to death by the mob in Kampala on Thursday when protests against the expansion of an Indian-owned sugarcane plantation turned violent.
Rawal was the only earning member of his family and had been working in Uganda for the past two years.
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/india/04_2007/body-of-indian-flown-in-from-uganda-38590.html
He was going to return home next month as his parents were reportedly finalising his wedding.
Rawal’s family says the government needs to do a lot more to ensure the safety of Indians abroad. "He was there for two-and-a half years and we wanted to get him married. We even repaired the house for this, but he never returned,” said Devang’s father Shaileshbhai Rawal.
Thursday’s mob attack in Uganda included Indians being dragged off motorbikes and beaten, their shops looted and a Hindu temple attacked. The attack revived bitter memories of virulent anti-India bashing by former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin who expelled nearly 75,000 Asians in 1972.
“There is simply no security for people who go out to work. This cannot work for too long. The government needs to ensure that they are safe,” said Devang’s uncle Jitendrabhai Rawal.