Sikh in Melbourne continue to raise fears of safety following the arson attack on the Gurdwara, that is being built

The president of Melbourne's largest Sikh Gurdwara has requested additional night-time security from Victoria Police in the wake of an arson attack on another Sikh Gurdwara earlier this week.

The request, made to Victoria Police in a letter yesterday, asks for "increased vigilance" from local authorities around the high-profile Sikh Gurdwara in the eastern Melbourne suburb of Blackburn, which has previously been visited by the Premier and the state Opposition Leader.

The letter, written by the secretary of the Sri Guru Nanak Satsang Sabha Gurdwara at the behest of its president, Dashran Singh, says: "As you are no doubt aware, there have been an increased number of violent incidents involving (the) Indian community in Melbourne.

"This is a matter of concern for all Australians.

"We will appreciate if you can assist by having increased vigilance in the area, especially during night-time, to build confidence amongst the community," says the letter, seen by
Early on Wednesday a Sikh Gurdwara in Lynbrook, on Melbourne's southeastern fringe, was set on fire. Mr Singh yesterday said another Sikh Gurdwara in Cragieburn in Melbourne's north was also vandalised last week with eggs and stones.

"We take the trouble to collect money to build our buildings for worship. This is very worrying," he said.

The Gurdwara was also visited by the Indian high commissioner, she has urged Melbourne's Sikh community to let the law take its course in response to the burning of a Gurdwara.

Sujatha Singh warned against allowing "a few bad elements" to spoil the warm relationship between the two nations.

In her first public address since the murder of 21-year-old accounting graduate Nitin Garg and last week's arson attack on the Gurdwara, Ms Singh assured a Melbourne congregation that the Indian government was "very closely monitoring" the wellbeing of Indians in Australia.

Ms Singh said she had been in daily -- "even sometimes hourly" -- contact with the relevant Australian authorities to address community safety concerns.

Speaking to hundreds of worshippers at Blackburn's Gurdwara, or Sikh Gurdwara, the largest of its kind in Victoria, Ms Singh said: "The incidents that have taken place in recent times have troubled us all, Indians and Australians alike.

The high commissioner visited the burnt-out Lynbrook Gurdwara yesterday morning and said:

"The incident of arson is receiving the full attention of the concerned authorities," she told the Blackburn worshippers.

"I would like to assure you that both governments are united in their desire to see progress in bringing the perpetrators of these incidents to justice, and in bringing these incidents to a complete stop, ensuring that they do not happen again."

Ms Singh spoke of a tradition of strong ties between India and Australia, and implored the Indian community not to allow "a few bad elements" to spoil "the warmth and good feeling" which continued to exist between the two nations, The Astralian newspaper has reported