The Italian Marines Came Marching In

On arrival at Cochin yesterday from Rome where he had gone to attend the Conclave to elect the Pope, Mar George Cardinal Alencherry said that the Italian Marines who are to face trial for the killing of two Kerala fishermen last year should return to India and submit themselves to the Indian Judiciary. That has happened.

After the tumult and the shouting, and trying to defy the Supreme Court of India, the Marines are back. But judging by the past conduct of the Italians, we should not be surprised if they come out with some absurd defence.  For instance they could claim that they were trying to shoot into the sky to test the guns and hit the Indians by mistake.

Well, it is a question of guns and shooting and aim. Swearing to tell the truth and nothing but the truth in a Court of Law also could be as suspect as the accuracy of the shooting. After all, Italy’s military history is not all that great. It is probably the most invaded geographic area in the world.

It is said that every time the Italians are beaten in a war they got married to the women from the victor’s side and the process went on repeating. Even in modern times Italy has not learned winning ways. Of course they did beat the push-over Ethiopia in the 1930s. That is about all.

The point I want to establish here is that a good soldier should be a man of honour. Since I don’t know Italian, it is not possible for me to say whether there is a word equivalent to ‘honour’ in that language. An Ambassador trying to shy away from a solemn oath does not paint the picture of admiration.

German Field Marshall Albert Kesselring once said, “It is an established fact that the Italian armed forces have not fought convincingly and successfully either in World War I or II.” He also said, "The training remained superficial, without having reached a satisfactory level.  One only has to closely watch a simple changing of the guard procedure to arrive at this judgement.  The Italian soldier was not a soldier from within". (The quotes are from The Italian Military Enigma by Major Eric G. Hansen, U. S. Marine Corps.)

Geographically too, the Marines seem to have been way off the mark. Enrica Lexie shot and killed the two fishermen on February 15, 2012 off the Kerala Coast. I have not been able to locate any authority stating that it is High Risk Area (HRA). No Somalian piracy has been reported from there. According to reports, the Marines did not follow the proper procedure of informing the Indian Authorities.

However, to be fair enough, during the first three months of 2012, there have been three more cases of mistaken identity happening along the West Coast of India. Warning shots were fired but fortunately no one got hurt.

According to sources, over 300,000 fishing boats operate along the coast of India. Great care has to be taken by the Masters of the big vessels and the fishermen to avoid tragedies. Recently there have been two or three cases of collusion along the Kerala Coast.

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Three matters

Archery bloodline

The Kerala State Archery Championship was held yesterday. It is named after Thakakkal Palottu Chanthu. His archers (men and women) of the Kurichiyar community fought the British bravely for Pazhassi Raja, the Lion of Kerala. That is part of history.

Though two hundred years have passed since the valiant man passed on, members of Chanthu’s family still dominate the archery scene in Kerala. For years the family’s A Team and B Team have been clashing in the finals. Eight men and four women from Palottu took part in this year’s championship. A family member won the  men’s individual championship as well.

Last year the Palottu women’s team was the runner up, but they were pushed to the third place this time. Perhaps the reason was that their star could not take part. She, PK Jayalakshmi, is a Minister in the Kerala State Government, in charge of Welfare of Scheduled Tribes, Youth Affairs, and Museum & Zoos. She did not go to the place in Cochin where the championships were held, but was following the event through telephone.

Congratulations, Jayalakshmi.

Trigger happy Italian marines

A fishing boat named St. Antony from Quilon, Kerala, went out sea a couple of weeks back as usual to catch fish.  Out at sea, the boat was fired at by marines on the passing Italian oil tanker Enrica Lexie. Two poor fishermen aboard St. Antony died. This was on the 15^th of February. The tragedy took place in an area where thousands fishing boats roam almost around the clock. The nation was shocked.

In some countries the State lends its navy men for a fee to safeguard merchant ships from attacks by pirates. That is fine. But the uniformed men so deployed should be sensible persons and follow laid down procedure. Warnings were not given as required while confronting pirates. Neither the Captain nor the others remembered that Kerala coast is not pirate infested. The ship did not inform the Indian Coastguard or Navy or police about the incident but tried to carry on quietly. On information from the boat which was attacked, the tanker was apprehended and brought to Cochin.

The Italians involved were arrogant from the beginning and have told apparent lies which they are still holding on to. The biggest falsehood is that it was a pirate boat that they shot at and there were five armed men in it. (There have been no pirate attacks from the Kerala coast in known history.) None of the people on St. Antony that day is unlikely to have handled a gun in their lives.  

St. Antony’s owner driver and rest of the crew, I believe, were Catholics. Did Italy try to take advantage of that through Mar George Cardinal Alencherry (Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church) who was in Rome to receive his Cardinalship.  A Vatican news agency, Agenzia Fides, published on their website a statement in the name of the new Prince of the Church. It indicated support to the Italian stand and that the Church could influence the Indian/Kerala Government through Catholic Ministers in the Cabinet.

The Cardinal denied that he had made such a statement. The agency published new interview, but did not apologize for any wrong reporting earlier. Anyway, this incident has created quite a bit of damage: 1) those on St. Antony are Latin Catholics and do not come under Mar Alencherry and this has caused a suspicion that the Syrio-Malabar Church did not support the Latin cause, 2)  at least some Syro-Malabar Church members believe that the Cardinal did make the statement that originally came out and question his capability to be the head of the Church, and, 3) the Catholics have lost face.

The matter is before the Kerala High Court and we can be certain that justice would be done. And let us pray for the families of the dead fishermen. I like the answer the 17 years old Derrick, the son of one of the dead men gave when an Italian scribe asked what the boy wanted the Italian Government to do for his family. According to The Hindu the youngster said do what Italy would have done if the incident had happened in that country and the victim was an Italian. He added that there was no hatred for Italy, but the marines should get no mercy.

Let the grains rot

This is the season for harvesting the punja rice crop in Kuttanad. But instead of paddy in their granaries, the farmers are likely to get tears in their eyes. (Kuttanad, a weeping beauty.)

The problem is how to harvest. There is no labour. I am told that when 250 harvesting machines are required, Alleppey District has only 25. Because of the Mullaperriyar issue, renting the equipment from Tamil Nadu is not easy.

Does anyone remember the Communist theory of not mechanizing, so that more people would get jobs!

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