PM warns Italy of ‘consequences’ if marines don’t return

New Delhi : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh warned Italy Wednesday of “consequences” if its two marines charged with killing two Indian fishermen don’t return to face the Indian law.

“If Italy does not keep its word, there will be consequences,” Manmohan Singh said during a discussion in the Lok Sabha.

“Our government has made it clear that this action by the Italian government is not acceptable,” he added.

The Italian decision not to send back the marines who were given parole to go back to Rome to vote in national election violated every rule of diplomatic discourse, he said.

It also called into question solemn commitments given by accredited representative of a government, he said.

Earlier, speaking for the opposition, Jaswant Singh of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanded to know why the Italians were allowed to return to Italy.

“Why was this exception made in the Italian case. Do we permit similar treatment to Indians? The government of Italy has gone back on its promise that they will come back,” he said.

“India should not tolerate this kind of treatment… What do you intend to do?” he asked.

Basudeb Acharia of the Communist Party of India-Marxist said: “There is a system of postal ballot in Italy. Why weren’t the marines allowed to cast their votes through that?”

“What steps has the government taken against the (Italian) ambassador? The entire country is agitated.”