How did India forget that Italy refused to extradite businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi to face trial in India in the Bofors scam? This was long before it refused to return its two marines being tried in India for killing two fishermen while on duty aboard a merchant ship.
India made the first mistake when it sent Latorre and Girone to Italy for celebrating Christmas as if their presence was very essential in the country during the festival. After they returned, the government committed another bloomer by allowing them to go a second time to cast their votes in Italy’s general elections. It is clear that New Delhi handled the serious issue very casually.
H. Narayanan,
Bangalore
Italy’s breach of trust is condemnable. It has become a practice for all nations to hoodwink India because it does not have a strong leader and strong policies. Whether Italy fooled India or India voluntarily gave in is something we have to wait and see.
P.K. Syam Kumar,
Chennai
In an unexpected move, Italy has decided not to send back the two marines. It has challenged India’s sovereignty. New Delhi should take firm action, and terminate diplomatic ties if necessary.
K.C. Iqbal Vavad,
Kozhikode
India has not learnt its lessons. The accused in the Bhopal gas tragedy was also allowed to leave the country. The same thing has happened in the case of the Italian marines. In both cases, the victims were common citizens. It shows the failure of our system to handle cases involving foreign nationals.
S. Jayakrishnan,
Thiruvananthapuram
We should have been more realistic and made the Italian marines pay heavily to compensate the loss suffered by the families of the two fishermen. They would have got some consolation. They are now left in the lurch with the marines getting away with the killings. The poor people have nothing to fall back on. When will our government learn to appreciate realities?
Sharada Sivaram,
Chennai
India gave in to public pressure and forgot the diplomatic nuances, and the result is what happened on Monday. One hopes New Delhi, despite pressure, will not give in this time round and take the route of finer aspects of diplomacy to sort the matter out, election to Parliament in 2014 notwithstanding.
K. Geetha,
New Delhi
