The reason for the complaints is that when negative reports are made about Asians because of crime, etc, Hindus and Sikhs get a backlash from some people. They're fed up of being lumped together with Islamist extremists.

In a crime report, it is no use saying the perpetrator was a European. So yes, the call for dropping Asian is consistent with not using European. Eastern European is sometimes used from accent or appearance, Southern European could be used, but just European can mean anything from blond Swede to dark Southern italian .

Christina