New Delhi, Nov 10 (IANS) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Tuesday expressed concern over the rising number of crimes against northeastern youth in the national capital and said he would meet students from the region as well as officials to discuss the issue, a member of the Northeast Congress Committee said.

Sharif Laskar, general secretary of the Northeast Congress Committee, said he and two other members of the group went to meet the prime minister Tuesday morning at his official residence to draw his attention to the matter.

‘Despite Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit stepping in and announcing various initiatives to provide security to the northeastern youth in Delhi, there have been cases of crimes against the community almost everyday. Therefore I and two other members of the Committee went to meet the prime minister today to seek his intervention,’ Laskar told IANS.

Laskar was also one of the leaders who led the protest at the Jantar Mantar last week on the issue. There were also protests and candle light vigils organised elsewhere in the capital by various students’ groups – following the brutal murder of a 19-year-old Naga girl in her south Delhi home by an IIT scholar Oct 25.

‘Our meeting with the prime minister lasted for nearly 20 minutes, during which he listened to our concerns and told us that he will call for a meeting shortly with concerned officials and students of the northeast to discuss the issue,’ Laskar said.

‘Every day we hear that students from the northeast are being assaulted or harassed and nothing, not even the chief minister’s intervention has helped. But we hope that the prime minister’s intervention helps,’ he added.

On Nov 3, two women from Nagaland, both aged 20, were returning home from work at 8 p.m. when seven drunk men confronted them in Sikanderpur, abused them and pushed them into a drain. A day later in the same area two young Naga boys were beaten up.

Several incidents were also reported from Gurgaon recently.