The Government came under sharp attack from the Opposition in Parliament on Wednesday on the issue of the Italian Marines, even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh warned of “consequences” on bilateral ties with Italy if the two soldiers did not return to India to stand trial.
Charging the Government of being “helpless,” the Opposition termed the Italian Government’s refusal to send back the two marines to India an “enemy action” and called for the detention of the Italian Ambassador.
leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said the Italian Government’s action was “State-sponsored deception and abduction” and asked the Government to do away with “diplomatic niceties.”
He said the Italian envoy cannot claim diplomatic immunity after he submitted to the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction and the Italian Government committed a “fraud” on the Indian Government and the apex court.
Noting that Italian law did not require the two marines to be physically present to cast their votes as they could have exercised their franchise even through mail, Jaitley said their act of approaching the Indian Government for the sending Italian Marines back to that country appears “pre-scripted.”
V Maitreyan (AIADMK) said the Government should arrest the Italian Ambassador.
P Rajeev (CPI-M) also wanted to know whether the Government was ready to take action against the Italian Ambassador.
The Rajya Sabha saw vociferous protests by the BJP and CPI(M) MPs when Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath said the Government was ready for discussion.
Dissatisfied with the minister’s statement, members from the CPI-M and BJP trooped into the Well of the House and shouted slogans, forcing the Chair to adjourn the House for half an hour.
When the House reassembled at 1 pm, the Prime Minister read out a brief statement.
“There can be no two opinions about the actions that have been taken by the Italian Government on the matter raised by members. Our Government has already made it clear that these actions of the Government of Italy are not acceptable. They violate every rule of diplomatic discourse and call into question solemn commitment given by accredited representatives of a sovereign Government to our Supreme Court. This cannot, by any standards, be in the interest of any bilateral relationship that has to function on the basis of trust,” Singh said in the lok Sabha.
The PM claimed his Government has insisted that the Italian authorities respect the undertakings they have given to the Supreme Court and return the two accused persons to stand trial in India.
In lok Sabha, Jaswant Singh (BJP) said Italian Marines were granted parole to go home for Christmas ‘in a very strange and curious manner.’ He wondered whether Indian prisoners are given permission to go home and vote in local elections and sought to know from the Government why this “special treatment” was given to the Italian Marines.
Basudeb Acharia (CPI-M) asked what steps the Government had taken against the Italian Ambassador who had given an undertaking about the return of the marines.
BJP Chief Rajnath Singh demanded that the two Italian Marines be declared absconders and Interpol be approached to seek their custody.
“There is a case for declaring the Italian Marines absconders. The UPA Government must take action in this regard and take up the matter with Interpol. We must have their custody, and if Interpol’s intervention is necessary, let it be,” Singh told reporters in Kanpur.
The Congress dismissed the BJP’s attempts to link the Italian Marine issue with India’s failure in getting the extradition of Bofors scam accused Ottavio Quattrocchi with spokesperson Sandeep Dikshit saying: “ Quattrocchi is a different case. Quattrocchi was not a case of any sovereign guarantee given by any Government. He was an individual, who went away and did not come back or report to the authorities. This is a guarantee given by a sovereign Government to the Supreme Court and the Government of India.”
Responding to India’s stand on the standoff, Italian diplomatic officials in a statement on Wednesday said that Rome was ready to negotiate the case based on international law.
“The judgment by the Supreme Court of India on January 18 has denied Italian jurisdiction on the case and invited both countries to engage in a common effort based upon Article 100 of the UN Convention on the law of the Sea,” the statement said.
“Italy has stated its readiness to start negotiations on such basis. Since there has been no reaction from India in this regard we have come to the conclusion that it is appropriate to solve the legal dispute according to the international law.
“The Note Verbale sent by the Embassy to the external affairs ministry on March 11 was intended to give the opportunity to settle the dispute through the consensual means offered to the parties by the international law with the aim of defining a legally sound solution to the case.
“This is consistent with Italy’s position since we have continuously advocated a settlement of the case according to the rules of international law on jurisdiction of the flag State and on functional immunity of State organs.
“Italy did everything we could to find an acceptable solution to such case, within the framework of our strong and friendly relations with India, and Italy will continue to do so.
“legal proceedings against the two marines are still under way before the Court of Rome,” it said.
Meanwhile, describing the current standoff as “difficult moments” for the two countries, Italian Ambassador Daniele Mancini said he will not shy away from finding a solution.
“I am confident that the two mature democracies such as ours will overcome these difficulties. We are working with Indian institutions and Government to do whatever best can be done to overcome these current difficult moments,” Mancini said at an event.
“We will not shy away from this. It is very much present in our mind,” he said, a day after the Ministry of External Affairs summoned him to convey India’s position on this matter in the “strongest of terms”.
Mancini also said Italy wants to resolve the issue by “consensual” means and that it had even put a number of proposals, some of them in the last few days.
“For us, the supremacy of the international law needs to be reassessed. In these very months and these few weeks and in the last few days we put a number of proposals to the Indian authorities to solve this case by consensual means. This is what we still want to be doing,” he told reporters.
Mancini also insisted that his country had not gone back on the assurance given to the Supreme Court of India.
“No. We are not retracting (on the assurance). We are working with the Indian Government. You cannot consider the affidavit separate from the other, from the suggestions, proposals and ideas that we have been passing to the Indian interlocutors. This is a part of the process,” he said.
Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai said India will await a response from Italy before taking a call on the future course of action on the issue.