Marines are back as India accepts key Italy riders

The two Italian marines, Massimiliano Lattore and Salvatore Girone, accused of killing two fishermen from Kerala finally reached Delhi on Friday to face trial, bringing the curtains down on the less than two-week-old India-Italy diplomatic standoff.

Sure, it was a diplomatic victory for India. But opinions are divided on whether the end to Italy’s posturing was brought on by the Centre’s hectic diplomacy or the no-nonsense attitude of the Supreme Court.

Italy’s U-turn on its decision to not send its marines back came late on Thursday amidst reports that India had assured it that the marines will neither be arrested upon their return nor will they be given a death sentence in the case.

On Friday evening, though, external affairs minister Salman Khurshid vehemently denied striking any “deal” with Italy, adding that India had not “assured” or “promised” anything, but had only “clarified” Italian concerns on chances of the marines’ arrest and capital punishment. “There was no deal at all. We did not give any assurance. We only clarified on two issues they had asked for... We clarified after talking to our law officers.”

He explained that it was made clear to Italy that the marines would not be arrested if they were back before the Cinderella hour on March 22 — as stated in the Italian ambassador’s affidavit to the apex court before they were allowed to leave for Italy. Also, he added, it was only clarified to them — and not promised — that according to well-settled Indian jurisprudence and his understanding of law, the case doesn’t fall under the rarest of the rare category — which is a legal requirement in India for courts to award death penalty.

But Italy’s junior foreign minister Staffan de Mistura disagreed. He claimed that what brought about a change of heart in Italian government officials was a letter from India ruling out the possibility of a death penalty. “We had to obtain [a] guarantee. The potential diplomatic crisis has been aborted. The marines are now in our embassy,” he said. “[The] word of our ambassador is sacred. We had suspended the affidavit of our ambassador only on the issue of death penalty.

So, no possibility of death penalty was enough to take away suspension of the affidavit,” de Mistura said in a conference at the Italian embassy.

He demanded that the proceedings in the case be “expedited” and that the special court that would conduct the trial (as directed by the SC) be “established as soon as possible”. Earlier, Khurshid, too, had talked about setting up a special court quickly.

“We want justice … We want clarity,” de Mistura said while expressing his regret over the death of the two Indian fishermen. He, however, clarified that Italy is not budging from the stand that the marine should be tried back home on the grounds that the shooting occurred in international waters.

Earlier, a chuffed Khurshid credited the Indian government’s diplomacy for successfully bringing back marines, stating that the external affairs ministry was at the “forefront” and that the diplomats had never stopped “talking” to their Italian counterparts. “I have repeatedly said you should not write off diplomacy too soon. I can say that diplomacy continues to work when everybody else thinks that everything is lost.”

However, sources claim that a deft diplomatic manoeuvring alone wasn’t the magic wand. True that the overworked Indian diplomacy stopped the 27 members of the European Union (EU) from ganging up against Delhi, but some tough talking by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and an imminent threat to bilateral business and investments too did the trick.

After a political go-ahead, the external affairs ministry sent a tough message to Italy, even to the extent of downgrading political relations, as well as to put a stop on trade and investment. Italian investments in India currently stand at 2.5 billion euros.

Days ago, Sonia told her party MPs that all means must be pursued to ensure that commitments made by Rome to the Supreme Court are honoured. Already upset over her motherland being shown in a bad light in the alleged VVIP helicopter scam, she reportedly nudged prime minister Manmohan to give the strongest retort to Italy for disobeying the SC order.

Singh on Friday welcomed Rome’s decision to end the diplomatic stand-off between the two countries, saying the outcome was consistent with the dignity of India’s judicial process.

Khurshid said the developments would be conveyed possibly on Monday to the Supreme Court, which had issued orders preventing the Italian ambassador from leaving India until the marines’ return.

@DNA