English is a little funny language. Fire can not be friendly, yet there is this expression that denotes somebody has goofed up big time. Latore Massimiliano and Salvatore Girone are two trigger happy idiots who fired upon sleeping fishermen mistaking them for pirates. Italian Navy must be providing very good weapons training because their marines managed to murder two innocents. Sadly the same can not said about their training program that deals with developing critical thinking process under stressful conditions as would be found in the field. Or developing deduction abilities that would enable these marines to use intelligence in differentiating between fishermen and pirates. Or maybe these two specimens were the worst of the lot ; fit for only guard duty. Maybe they were drunk, overworked; half asleep; their girl friends broke off on twitter ........whatever!
One can find many reasons for their actions , but the fact is that they murdered civilians without reason ; without provocation and acted with unreasonable force and firepower just on the basis of doubts. Reason enough for summary dismissal from a supposedly elite force after an instant court martial . Even if they had not succeeded in committing murder. But they did and now that they have been apprehended by police, they will have to face trial. Why is that so hard to digest? Unfortunately no one acted honorably after the incident, starting from the marines themselves . Their captain tried to flee the scene, then obstructed the law from boarding the ship for a long time and may have interfered with forensic evidence and murder weapons. I do not understand why he has not been charged as an accessory to murder.?
These are individuals and individuals are frail , selfish and suffer from weaknesses. Institutions , authorities and governments can not hide behind such fralities. Italian authorities , government and the their embassy began by casting doubts about the incident; then moved to create confusion about the location of the incident and then talked about jurisdiction. Their personnel murdered Indian civilians in Indian waters and were apprehended by the Indian law. That makes it Indian Jurisdiction. Period! The truth is that Italians are suffering from seriously misplaced superiority complex and their demands that India let these murderers go is ridiculously naive if not overbearingly arrogant. Every thing however points to a serious case of colonial hangover. Sooner they wake up ,sooner they would stop making a fool of themselves.
They have tried to bribe by offering to pay "blood money' ; without realizing that India is not Pakistan. They have involved the church , which beat a hasty retreat after sensing strong resistance by the people. And they have involved the European union as they continue to issue threats after threats at various levels. I do not think any Indian government will be suicidal enough to cut an unlawful deal with the Italians. It would create a big stink in itself and then there is the Sonia factor. Manmohan Singh's government would not want to be seen breaking Indian laws to favour foreign powers. Specially Italians. Hopefully Italian government would reach that conclusion themselves and participate in facilitating a legal conclusion to this affair; that would be fair to victims. If Italian marines are members of a proud and professional unit; they must be proud, ethical and professional enough to own up and face consequences like a marine. They should receive a fair trial in an open court and get all possible legal help. However they must answer for man slaughter and will have to serve time. Afterwards If the Italian armed forces do not wish to take these murderers to task for doing a sloppy and inefficient job as a marine, It would be their business. As of now it is the business of the Indian courts.
These are individuals and individuals are frail , selfish and suffer from weaknesses. Institutions , authorities and governments can not hide behind such fralities. Italian authorities , government and the their embassy began by casting doubts about the incident; then moved to create confusion about the location of the incident and then talked about jurisdiction. Their personnel murdered Indian civilians in Indian waters and were apprehended by the Indian law. That makes it Indian Jurisdiction. Period! The truth is that Italians are suffering from seriously misplaced superiority complex and their demands that India let these murderers go is ridiculously naive if not overbearingly arrogant. Every thing however points to a serious case of colonial hangover. Sooner they wake up ,sooner they would stop making a fool of themselves.
They have tried to bribe by offering to pay "blood money' ; without realizing that India is not Pakistan. They have involved the church , which beat a hasty retreat after sensing strong resistance by the people. And they have involved the European union as they continue to issue threats after threats at various levels. I do not think any Indian government will be suicidal enough to cut an unlawful deal with the Italians. It would create a big stink in itself and then there is the Sonia factor. Manmohan Singh's government would not want to be seen breaking Indian laws to favour foreign powers. Specially Italians. Hopefully Italian government would reach that conclusion themselves and participate in facilitating a legal conclusion to this affair; that would be fair to victims. If Italian marines are members of a proud and professional unit; they must be proud, ethical and professional enough to own up and face consequences like a marine. They should receive a fair trial in an open court and get all possible legal help. However they must answer for man slaughter and will have to serve time. Afterwards If the Italian armed forces do not wish to take these murderers to task for doing a sloppy and inefficient job as a marine, It would be their business. As of now it is the business of the Indian courts.
