On February
12, seven of the eight Navy veterans detained in Qatar returned to India. The
beaming veterans who touched down in New Delhi unequivocally credited the
efforts of the government of India for their safe return. One of the veterans
said, “We waited almost for 18 months to be back in India. We are extremely
grateful to the PM. It wouldn’t have been possible without his personal
intervention and his equation with Qatar. We are grateful to the government of
India from the bottom of our hearts for every effort that has been made and
this day won’t have been possible without those efforts”1.
Indian Navy
veterans working for Dahra Global Technologies and Consultancy Services owned
by an Omani national were arrested in August 2022 on the charges of espionage
and were awarded a death sentence. Given the sensitivity of the issue, the
charges against the Indians were not made public. The Indian Embassy was aware
of the arrests by mid-September and till September 30, the veterans couldn’t
have telephonic contact with their families. First consular access was granted
on October 3, 2022, and subsequently, weekly telephone calls were allowed to
connect with families. Second consular access was provided towards the end of
December.
Throughout
the course of detentions and legal trials, India engaged with Qatari officials
at different levels. EAM Jaishankar pursued back-channel diplomacy, NSA Ajit
Doval made several visits to Qatar and Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankar attended
the FIFA Cup Inaugural Event in November 2022.
The first
trial commenced on March 2023 and the First Instance Court awarded death
sentence to all eight veterans on October 26. India expressed “deep shock” at
the verdict. A sense of despair has gloom has set in. Responding to the
desperate pleas of the families, MEA has assured all help and promised to
mobilise all diplomatic channels and provide needed legal assistance to bring
back all the veterans who have an unblemished record of 20 years in service.
The
detention of veterans coming at the back of a diplomatic row between India and
Qatar posed a major challenge. Qatar was among the first nations to express
outrage over the Nupur Sharma remarks on the Prophet during a TV debate in June
2022. Doha demanded a public apology, summoned the Indian Ambassador and handed
over the protest note calling for “categorical rejection and condemnation”
of the controversial remarks. To defuse the tensions, the spokesperson of the
Indian Embassy in Qatar clarified that the remarks do not reflect the views of
the government of India and to mitigate the issue BJP has suspended Nupur
Sharma. However, the resentment among the Muslim countries persisted.
India has
explored the possibility of invoking the agreement on the transfer of convicted
prisoners signed in March 2015. Per this, Indians convicted in Qatar can be
brought home to serve the prison sentence back home with a similar provision to
be extended to Qatar citizens convicted in India. But India couldn’t make a
breakthrough with this agreement.
Given
Qatar’s reputation as a difficult and secretive negotiator, it is suggested
that India must resort to tough messaging. Resisting the temptation of
leveraging against Qatar India employed astute diplomacy. PM Modi took up this
issue directly with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani. What
worked in favour of India were the strong personal ties that PM Modi forged
with World leaders to secure Indian interests. PM Modi met the Emir of Qatar on
December 1 along the sidelines of the COP28 Dubai summit. He discussed
bilateral partnership and the “well-being of the Indian Community”
living in Qatar.
Post PM
Modi- Emir of Qatar talks, Qatar’s Court of Appeal on December 28 commuted the
capital punishment and pronounced prison sentences of varying duration ranging
from 3-25 years. The court gave 60 days to all these veterans to appeal against
the jail sentences. The verdict which came as a major relief still cast doubts
about the return of the veterans to India.
Doubling the
diplomatic efforts with investments, India managed to script an impossible feat
of acquittal of the veterans. In the first week of February, India renewed a
25-year LNG deal set to expire in 2028. India has signed a $78 billion LNG
export from Qatar for a period of 20 years. Along the sidelines of the India
Energy Week, Petronet LNG Ltd inked a pact with QatarEnergy to buy 7.5 million metric
tonnes of gas every year. As per the deal in 1999, the renewal of the agreement
has to be agreed five years prior to the end of the supply. After the Qatar court reduced the sentence,
both countries engaged in intense negotiations to finalise the deal.
Qatar known
to play double games is a bunch of contradictions and punches above its weight.
Indian leadership keen on securing its energy interests has consciously ignored
the ‘arbitrary’ nature of Qatar and continued its economic engagement even
during the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries boycott from 2017-2021 for
supporting radical Islamist groups that threatened the monarchies in the
region.
The Navy
veterans issue believed to be an episode of corporate rivalry has roiled the
India-Qatar bilateral partnership. Besides ensuring the safe returns of the
veterans through personal intervention, PM Modi has salvaged the partnership
and restored the ties to its normalcy. This release of veterans a major
diplomatic victory for India is a testament to her maturity and an objective
approach. The conscientiousness of the government and the sensitivity displayed
by the government towards the distraught families has restored the faith of the
populace in the Modi government.
Akin to the
arrest of the veterans that remained under wraps, no one including their
families had a clue about their desh wapsi until hours before they
arrived at New Delhi airport. Leaving nothing to chance, MEA has accomplished
this mission with the utmost ardour and confidentiality. Seizing the
opportunity to express gratitude by demonstrating imaginative diplomacy, MEA announced
an impromptu visit of PM Modi to Qatar from UAE.
On his
second visit to Qatar, Modi was received at the airport by the Minister of
Foreign Affairs Soltan bin Saad Al-Muraikhi. After the ceremonial Guard of
Honour, PM Modi held delegation-level and restricted talks with the Emir of
Qatar Hamad Al Thani on areas of bilateral cooperation including trade,
investment cooperation, energy partnership, people to people ties and issues of
regional security and international importance.
PM Modi also
thanked His Highness, the Emir, for his support of the welfare of the Indian
community and expressed deep appreciation for the release of the eight Indian
nationals and remarked, “We are extremely gratified to see them back in
India”. Since PM Modi’s first visit to Qatar in 2016, India has nurtured
the relationship with frequent high-level political exchanges. Transitioning
from a transactional perspective, India has forged a partnership based on
strategic convergences.
PM Modi also
met Father Emir whose visionary leadership laid the foundation for the India-Qatar
partnership. People-to-people relations are the bedrock of this bilateral
partnership2. The Emir of Qatar and Al Thani were among the
first to applaud and acknowledge the contributions of the 8,40,000-strong
Indian community.
India’s consequential relationship with West Asia is one of the major success stories of the Modi government. The Navy Veterans episode has underscored the strategic depth of the partnerships that PM Modi has painstakingly built over the course of his two tenures. Modi’s far-sightedness and out-of-the-box approach are now paying dividends.
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