Would an Indian leader go to a hostile nation to secure the release of its citizens?

Bill Clinton [Images] arrived unexpectedly in North Korea on Tuesday and secured the release of two lady American journalists serving a 12-year prison term for allegedly crossing into the Communist nation illegally.

The former American president apologised to North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong Il for the journalists's conduct and brought them back to the US with him.

Would an Indian politician have the courage to do the same? Would any former prime minister travel to a rogue country to negotiate the freedom of just two of its imprisoned citizens?

India did negotiate with terrorists in Kandahar for the freedom of passengers and crew aboard the Indian Airlines flight IC-814 in December 1999, but would it do the same for a few of its citizens languishing in foreign prisons, away from the media spotlight? Just recently, two Indian merchant navy officers spent months in a South Korean prison, virtually ignored by the government.

Does the Indian government care enough for the well-being of its citizens in alien countries; and for that matter within India as well?

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