New Delhi: As many as 86 cases of assault on Indians have been reported from seven countries, most of them from the Russian Federation, during the last two years, the Lok Sabha was told on July 23.

While 50 have been reported from the Russian Federation, 15 have been witnessed in the US, 13 from Philippines, three in Qatar, two each in Bahrain and Germany and one in Slovak Republic, Minister of State for External Affairs Vinod Khanna said in a written reply.

Besides this, Indian students of the Fleetwood Nautical College in Lancashire in UK have complained of racist assaults on them and commercial establishments owned by Indians were attacked in Mahajanga town of Madagascar in 2002, he said.

Indian missions abroad have been issued standing instructions to take prompt action on such complaints with local authorities concerned, Khanna said.

A number of racial crimes and cases of harassment against the Indian-American community in the US, including three cases of homicide, have been reported in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, terrorist attack on World Trade Centre (WTC), he said, adding these were due to mistaken identity.

A total of 863 Indian civil prisoners, 319 fishermen and 54 missing Indian defence personnel are believed to be in custody in Pakistan on charges of violation of its laws, including crossing into that country illegally, he said.

Although the US has lifted all sanctions imposed on India post-Pokhran, certain long standing restrictive policies on transfer of nuclear and missile technologies from US to India remain in place, he added.

PTI