Rome, 31 March (AKI) - A Pakistani community representative said on Tuesday that episodes of racism in the Italian capital Rome are on the rise, after the beating of a Pakistani immigrant last week left him in a coma.

"Episodes of racism are on the rise in Rome, above all in certain neighbourhoods on the outskirts of the city which are full of hate and frustration," said Ejaz Ahmad in an interview with Adnkronos International (AKI).

"In places like Tor Bella Monaca projects remain unfinished because this is in the interest of certain people," said Ahmad. He is member of the Italy's Consulta Islamica, a government appointed Muslim consultation body set up in 2005.

He was referring to the deprived suburb of Rome where five Italian youths in their 20s are alleged to have severely beaten Pakistani immigrant Mohammad Basharat last Monday in what investigators say was a racially-motivated attack.

"For economic reasons, immigrants are forced to live in Tor Bella Monaca and other poor urban districts where there is lack of decent housing, cultural projects such as theatres and initiatives to foster intercultural dialogue," Ahmad said.

Basharat, 35, the owner of a small convenience store is said to be in a coma at Rome's Policlinico Casilino hospital after the group of young men began to savagely beat him, while his car was stopped at a red light in Rome's deprived Tor Bella Monaca district.

Ahmad that Italy bears some of the responsibility for attacks such as that against Basharat due to a lack of policies to integrate immigrants.

"To lack policies of integration is not an issue of abstention, but of participation in the violence," said Ahmad, urging the public "to be upset" and debate each episode of violence.

He also slammed the Italian media and public opinion for not having paid enough attention to the attack on Basharat.

"Mohammad Basharat has been living in Italy for more than 10 years. Now he is in a coma at Rome's Policlinico Casilino... He was beaten up like in a videogame, most likely, by racist Italian kids," said Ahmad.

"He has now lost everything, even the child that his wife carried. Is it possible that nobody cares?" asked Ahmad.

Basharat's 38 year-old Sri Lankan partner Chandy Karunasekera , who was three months pregnant, miscarried on hearing he was critically ill after the attack. They were planning to get married.

The attack on Basharat is the latest in series of attacks against immigrants in Italy.

In early February, three Italian youth attacked an Indian labourer, Navtej Singh Sidhu, kicked, punched and insulted him, doused him with petrol and paint and set him alight as he slept on a station bench in Nettuno, south of Rome.

January 2009 saw vigilante-style attacks against immigrants in Italy following several rapes allegedly perpetrated by immigrants. Last year, a 63-year-old Ghanaian immigrant sitting on a park bench in Milan was severely beaten last year by baseball-bat wielding thugs who shouted: "Dirty nigger, you all have to get out of Italy!"

Earlier 'vigilante' attacks occurred in central Italy, most notably when an Italian naval captain's wife was raped and murdered on the outskirts of Rome by a Romanian drifter in 2007.

Raids were carried out on encampments across Italy and dozens of Romanians judged to be a threat to public security were deported after the incident.