Graceless in Rome

That Italy is not a banana republic makes the breach of its ambassadors written assurance to the highest court of law in India all the more indefensible. Italys refusal to return the two marines accused of killing two Indian fishermen in February 2012,despite the ambassadors signed affidavit,is a violation of every rule of diplomatic discourse,as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh rightly put it in Parliament. Bilateral ties between states governed by the rule of law entail respect for each others judicial process. Given that both the Kerala High Court and the apex court in India had,in a special concession,allowed the marines to go back home to Italy for Christmas and for casting their vote respectively,Romes decision to not send the marines does not behoove a responsible state. Compulsions and pressures of nationalist concerns in a time of governmental transition in Italy do not excuse Romes conduct.

Italy has been insisting on a diplomatic resolution to the matter as per the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. But with this breach of trust,it has severely shrunk the diplomatic space for finding a mutually acceptable resolution to the problem. The Indian side can be faulted for allowing the issue to escalate. The Centre first appeared to be all too vulnerable to pressure mounted from Kerala and then by the Italians. By letting the Kerala government talk up the issue when the marines were arrested,New Delhi constricted its own room for manoeuvre. Later,the Supreme Court took the case out of the states court,but perhaps a quick investigation by the Indian navy and the coast guard could have dispensed with the issue. Nor did the Centre deliver on the Supreme Courts call for a special court to try the marines. Moreover,when the marines went home to vote,they did so without any collateral unlike in their Christmas parole.

Now India has no choice but to press Italy in unequivocal terms to send back the marines. Yet,as India weighs a range of options,this is also a moment to be calm and clear-eyed. Italy has acted without honour or grace. Indias response must be firm yet proportionate.