PM Manmohan Singh upset with Italy; envoy may get marching orders - Times of India

NEW DELHI: PM Manmohan Singh described Italy's provocative decision to not send back the two marines accused of killing Kerala fishermen as unacceptable, and the government lodged a "strong protest" with the Italian ambassador and asked for the duo's return. With government coming under attack from the opposition for alleged collusion with Italy, Singh was said to have told a group of Left MPs from Kerala that what Italy did was "unacceptable" and that he had asked foreign minister Salman Khurshid to take up t he issue diplomatically. A miffed government summoned Italian ambassador Daniele Mancini to lodge a "strong" protest against Italy reneging on its promise to send the two marines back to India to stand trial. According to an official statement, foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai told Mancini that Italy was obliged to return the two marines as per the undertaking given to the Supreme Court. Official sources said the government may even consider the option of sending Mancini back as it was he who had given an undertaking in Supreme Court that the marines would come back. Italy had on Monday evening stunned the government by saying that the marines, who were allowed to go home for four weeks, would not return because it did not agree with India on the terms of the United Nations Convention of Law of the Sea. It also s tressed that India had not responded to its requests to seek a diplomatic solution to the case. "Since a controversy between the two states had been established, the two Italian marines will not return to India on the expiration of the permission granted to them," Italy asserted as it explained the decision to violate the promise it gave to India's top court. Mathai told Mancini that India did not agree with the position conveyed by the Italian government on the return of marines, with a statement of the foreign ministry emphasizing that India's position on the matter was conveyed to the ambassador "in the strongest of terms". The show of toughness came against the backdrop of attacks from both BJP and CPM who accused the government of acting in collusion with Italy. "We charge the government with diploma tic collusion on this issue. The whole incident appears to have been scripted," BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said amid indications that his party was all set to corner the government in Parliament. CPM was also scathing, with its Kerala unit accusing the Centre and the Congress-led government in the state of playing an unfair game to ensure that the Italian marines did not have to submit themselves to Indian law. "Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and chief minister Oommen Chandy are now acting like they are innocent. Right from the beginning, the Centre and the state were not earnest in their efforts to get the marines punished here," the CPM state secretariat said. In its statement, the foreign ministry explained that it was the Supreme Court which had allowed the marines to go to Italy for a month in order to cast their vote in the recently-concluded polls. "It was conveyed to him (Mancini) that India expects Republic of Italy as a country that is committed to the rule of law to fulfill the sovereign undertaking given by it to the Supreme Court of India. It was only following this undertaking that the Supreme Court allowed the two marines to travel to and remain in Italy for a period of four weeks and return to India under the care, supervision and control of the Italian Republic," the statement said. "It was conveyed to the Italian ambassador that the Italian government was obliged to ensure their return to India within the stipulated period as per the terms of the Supreme Court order," the foreign ministry added. The ministry received a note verbale from the Italian embassy late on Monday saying there was an existing controversy with India concerning the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Seas of 1992 and the general principles of international law applicable to the incident. They requested the Indian government to set up a meeting at diplomatic level in order to reach an amicable solution of the controversy. A request had earlier been received in this regard on March 6, 2013. The ministry said the Italian request was under examination. via Top Stories - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNEtiSa1-tALLYtyXwKeRFJxf6aahw&url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/PM-Manmohan-Singh-upset-with-Italy-envoy-may-get-marching-orders/articleshow/18938417.cms

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