Indian diplomat R.L. Negi sustained
severe injuries when he was attacked by two unknown assailants at around 9.45
on April 18. He was returning home from his morning walk. The two hit him on
the head and shouted, “Go back to your own country.”  Negi’s left eye has been 50 to 60 percent
damaged and will take time to heal, according to doctors.

The 56-year-old Negi, whose wife is
Mongolian, was hit on his head, waist and legs. He screamed for his life, but
the attackers merely laughed, hit him in the eye, and left after stabbing him
in the stomach.

Police have arrested one man for the
incident and have asserted that the attack was as an act of “mindless and
spontaneous violence” but had no racial undertone. Expressing “great concern”,
they have asked for public assistance to stop any recurrence of such attacks.
 

Negi is not new in Ulaanbaatar. He was posted here in the 1990s,
and returned as Counsellor and Head of Chancery last year. Ha and his wife have
two children. His faith that the city is safe has now been shaken and he is
also convinced that he was attacked because he was a foreigner.