New Indian Express 2013-03-23

Congress’ Italian muddle

The current controversy over the Italian Marines who have effectively escaped from the Indian government’s custody is not the only one where the Congress- led government has invariably come a cropper in bringing to book foreign offenders on Indian soil though latest media reports say that Italian government has changed its stand and will allow the Marines to return to India. The same media reports also quote Italian officials have received “ample assurances” from Indian authorities “on the treatment that the marines will receive and the defence of their fundamental rights.” This gives rise to doubts as to whether the change in the stance of the Italian government is a victory for India’s diplomacy, as the UPA leaders claim, or the result of a behind-the-scenes deal. For some 17 years yet another Italian, this time businessman Octavio Quattrocchi was able to leave India when his ill-gotten money was under our government’s investigation. He moved his money from Switzerland to various locations. He himself escaped from New Delhi and moved to Malaysia and then to Argentina where the authorities arrested him on the basis of Indian complaint and then due to some deliberate muddling on our side, he was set free. Quattrocchi’s ill-gotten money was located in London where the British authorities froze these funds. But the Congress government said this could be de-frozen. He and his wealth are thus happily ensconced in Italy and he cocks a snook on India. Remember that when the Swiss government was investigating his black money in that country the then minister for external affairs delivered a note to his Swiss counterpart to go slow on the inquiry. There are a whole lot of other incidents where foreigners and foreign governments have been able to mock our government’s authority mainly because the powers that be in Delhi have things of their own to hide. Going back to 1984 when the huge Bhopal gas tragedy broke out, the Union Carbide chief Anderson who held vicarious responsibility for the terrible human tragedy from the gas emanating from the Union Carbide’s plant, got a red carpet treatment. Instead of being arrested on his arrival here , he was escorted back to Delhi from Bhopal and allowed to leave when in fact an arrest warrant was pending against him. The Congress prevarications on this incident effectively saved Anderson from action for his criminality even several years later. Among several other such incidents we could recall how arms smuggler Kim Davis, a Danish citizen was able to fly near Purulia in West Bengal and dump arms there and how he escaped the consequences of his gun running due to incompetence (or worse) on the part of our government. The present Congress-led government is still looking for him when he is safely back in Denmark. New Delhi is seen as so weak-kneed that any passing criminal can insult it and go scot free. The latest Italian encounter must stand out as a fine example of the Congress government’s incompetence or deliberate collusion to let foreigner escape Indian legal network. The fact that the government did not take any lesson from the previous incidents and let the Italian Marines go back to their country ostensibly for voting, exposes the incompetence within the system. Normal reaction within the bureaucracy would have been not to let the accused leave the country even against any collateral. The whole of Kerala was agitated over their arrogance in shooting at a fishing boat near the coast. Their defence that they feared that it was a pirate boat could hardly be credible. The naval instrumentation these days is perfect enough in any vessel to make it clear about the positioning and the ship would have known that they are near the Indian coast where there are no pirates. Hence the defence that the firing was under a mistaken notion cannot be accepted; it is more likely that it was the result of the old and lingering colonial attitude that treated the black man as a plaything of the white man. This apprehension was also at the heart of the Kerala state government and the public rejecting Italy’s offer of a crore of rupees each for the families of the two killed fishermen for buying their silence. Indian law or public opinion does not accept blood money as a compensation for letting murderers off the hook. It is therefore very clear that the orders to the officialdom that handled the Italian plea in the Supreme Court to let them go on bail were received from the highest quarters. The government failed or deliberately went soft in the apex court when the Italian ambassador approached it for bail for the accused marines. Had it strongly opposed the bail application the court might not have allowed the petition. Nor can one give any weightage to the prime minister’s threat that Italy would pay dearly for the deliberate defiance of the sovereign undertaking its ambassador had given to the apex court. Having worked itself into a corner on this issue, any diplomatic reprisal against Italy would push the government further into a long drawn confrontation with the European Union which India cannot afford. EU is important for our global diplomacy. Manmohan Singh’s government has not been able to get Denmark, another EU member, to bend on the issue of Kim Davis extradition to India to face criminal charges for the arms drop in Purulia. Italy must have calculated its risk on this basis when it plotted to get its marines virtually hijacked out of Indian government’s control. And read in the context of how Quattrocchi was allowed to escape and how the establishment in India was bribed in the current helicopters case, it was easy for Rome to plot the rescue of its marines under an elaborate chimera of a sovereign guarantee for their return. The whole incident exposes how lightly the EU countries view the government in New Delhi. The series of scandals that have tumbled out of UPA government’s cupboard have virtually destroyed the very credibility of this outfit. It speaks volumes about New Delhi’s competence that its assurance on the setting up of the special court rings so hollow even to a sympathetic international authority. When globally the image of India has taken a beating after its top people were projected as vulnerable to the charm of the filthy lucre, the question really is whether this government living from hour to hour is not a huge liability to a country that deserves much better.