Saving our 8 Navy veterans

Having dropped the ball in the first instance, India will now need to use all its diplomatic skills and political heft to ensure the release of the eight Indian Navy veterans on death row in Qatar. The capital punishment to the seven officers and a sailor did not leave just their families and military circles horrified, but the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) was also completely caught off-guard. In a departure from its normally staid language, the MEA said it was “deeply shocked by the verdict of death penalty” and was “awaiting the detailed judgement”. 

The October 26 verdict by the Court of First Instance of Qatar came after a trial shrouded in secrecy against the veterans, some of them over 60, who were involved in training Qatar Navy personnel through the Doha-based Dahra Global Technologies and Consulting Services. In the trial conducted post-haste after their arrest in August last year, merely seven hearings were held by the court to declare the men guilty. 

Neither India nor Doha have shared the details of the case. However, all the eight veterans were apparently charged with espionage, accused of passing information to Israel about Qatar’s intended purchase of submarines from Italy. There have been no formal diplomatic relations between Doha and Tel Aviv since the 2009 Israel-Hamas war. 

The ‘shock’ expressed by the MEA suggests it failed to anticipate the veterans would be given the death penalty. Despite the close India-Qatar ties, it appears neither sufficient diplomatic nor political capital was invested in the months since their arrest to stave off such a possibility. 

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, after meeting the families of the veterans on October 30, said the government “attaches the highest importance to the case” and that it “will make all efforts to secure their release”. Reassuring as this might seem, words will need to be swiftly converted into concrete action. 

Clearly, all of New Delhi’s efforts to accord the case the “highest priority” have not borne fruit. It is also disturbing that the post of India’s envoy in Doha was vacant for some time since New Delhi took time to announce the new ambassador’s name after the previous one was posted to the PMO here. It means there was nobody at the ambassador-level to handle such a sensitive case or engage with the Qatari authorities. What was the need to pull out the serving ambassador and post a new one in the midst of what Jaishankar himself told parliament in December last year was an “extremely sensitive matter”? 

Now, Delhi is faced with a daunting task. The first option will be an appeal against the sentence. But given the seriousness of the charges, this may not provide the convicted men any relief. There is, of course, the option of India then approaching the International Court of Justice, just as it did in the case of another former Indian Navy officer, Kulbhushan Jadhav, awarded the death sentence after being charged with spying by Pakistan. 

But what India really needs to do is to press the buttons at the top political level since a pardon can be granted by the Qatari Emir. This should not be difficult given the regular interactions at the highest levels between the two countries. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the Gulf nation in June 2016 on the invitation of the Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamdad Al Thani, who himself had made a State visit to India in 2015. Jaishankar has made annual visits to Qatar over the last three years, making the trip twice in 2021.

Qatar is currently preoccupied with the Israel-Hamas conflict, and this might make Delhi’s task tougher due to its pronounced tilt towards Tel Aviv in the crisis. Doha has strong links with Hamas, and even hosts the outfit’s political office. Western nations, in fact, have approached Doha for help in securing the release of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. 

The bilateral stakes for both India and Qatar are also high. They have substantial bilateral trade -- it was $18.77 billion in 2022-23. Qatar is the largest supplier of LNG to India, accounting for 40% of our global imports. For Qatar, India is the fourth-largest export destination. There are also a large number of Indian companies operating in Qatar, while there are large Qatari investments in Indian firms.

Defence cooperation is yet another vital element, with India regularly training Qatari military personnel. There are regular port calls by Indian warships to Qatar, and their navies also conduct the Zair-Al-Bahr exercise.

India also has an eight-lakh strong diaspora in the tiny but wealthy Qatar. Neither side would want such robust bilateral ties to be derailed. But India has no option but to pull out all stops to get its veterans back home.

(The writer is a senior journalist based in New Delhi)