Australians are being warned not to flash their national colours while in India for the Commonwealth Games, but New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has no immediate plans to follow suit.
Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd yesterday said Australians should be careful what they wore and confirmed there were reports of possible terrorist attacks at the Games, scheduled to start next Sunday.
"Visitors to India need to make their own judgements on appropriate clothing, taking into account advice provided in the travel advice," a spokeswoman for Mr Rudd said.
Asked about the Australian position, a ministry spokesman last night told the Otago Daily Times the advice to New Zealanders planning on travelling to India was being "constantly reviewed".
However, he reiterated earlier ministry advice when asked if its travel advice for India would be updated in light of the warning given to Australians.
"The travel advice notes that New Zealanders planning to attend the Games should exercise a high degree of caution and security awareness - that applies to all individual judgements."
The advice comes after Australian fans travelling to India were warned not to wear green and gold, fly the national flag or otherwise draw attention to themselves during the Games, for fear of attracting terrorists.
"People shouldn't wear an Aussie T-shirt, drape themselves in the Aussie flag or draw attention to themselves in any other clothing that is identifiable as Australian," Roger Henning, a spokesman for counter-terrorism and security consultants Homeland Security Asia-Pacific, told The Sunday Telegraph newspaper.
Security sources also told the newspaper of the potential for opportunistic kidnappers to target sports fans.
They said citizens of Australia, Britain, Canada and New Zealand could be targets of a snatch attempt because their countries supported the war in Afghanistan, the newspaper reported.
