Qatar death sentences on
Ex Indian Navy personnel
Sarasij Majumder
On Thursday, October 26, the Seven former Indian Navy
officers and one Sailor who have been arrested in Qatar, and for more than a
year kept in jail, were handed over the
death penalty by a local court in Doha in an alleged case of
espionage. The Indian government expressed its shock at the verdict, and
said all legal options are being explored.
The eight men have been in the custody of Qatari authorities
since August 2022. The Court of First Instance of Qatar passed the judgment
against them, according to a statement by the Ministry of External Affairs.
THE LIST OF PEOPLE:--
- Captain
Navtej Singh Gill
- Captain
Saurabh Vashisht
- Commander
Purnendu Tiwari
- Captain
Birendra Kumar Verma
- Commander
Sugunakar Pakala
- Commander
Sanjeev Gupta
- Commander
Amit Nagpal
- Sailor
Rajesh—The only NCO
All the above people were/ are working in Al Dahra company of QATER.
For the time being—we set aside the above incident, and I
share with you two incidents involving my colleagues in the past, in QATER, all separate incidents, in nineties.
My company, opened an office in ’90 in Qatar to
work for the then QGPC(now Qatar
Oil and Gas ), with a Local Qatari as an agent as per law of the state. Office
was set-up, Job was secured, and engineers were mobilized.
Case-1: One of the engineers Purchased a bottle of whiskey
in DOHA AIRPORT, from Duty Free shop,
brought it in, and kept in the FLAT, where they were living in a
group. The servant noticed it, and reported. The engineer was
taken to CUSTODY immediately.
Office in charge requested the service of the agent—who
seemed to be resourceful. He got him out, took him to Airport, and deported him
to Delhi immediately.
Case—2: The same FLAT. This happened with the engineer who
replaced him. The window of the occupant was opening, and opposite there was a
FLAT owned by a Qatari, and an window of the Qatari Flat was just opening face
to face.
It seems an wife of the Qatari, and our Engineer—were
involved in Love Gestures through the open windows. One day Qatari saw it,
complained to the authority, and our man was imprisoned on charge of Adultery.
Information reached us and we were worried that he may be
stoned to death.
But the agent again rescued us. At some consideration—he got
our man out of Jail before TRIAL, and
deported him immediately.
There are two more cases, and in those cases also—the
Indians involved got a way out of Qatar.
On the whole—no CASUALTY.
My company wanted to send me to manage this QATAR Office
later—but with some manipulation, I could avoid.
I went in Qatar, after retirement, in 2015, on an assignment, and stayed for a
month— I found it to be an OPEN JAIL for people like us, working there.
With this background of the country, let us review the
subject case.
The Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) declared its
“deep shock” at this development. It
went on further---, “We are awaiting the whole decision and are really
frightened by the death sentence belief. We are discussing all of our legal
alternatives and keeping in contact with the family and the team of attorneys.”
The foreign ministry released a statement saying, “We are in contact with relatives and the
lawyers on the case, and we are looking into all legal alternatives.”
However, the MEA has made it plain that no more remarks will
be made at this time, citing the secret nature of the proceedings.
Information I gathered from my contacts at QATER:-
- On
unsubstantiated charges, former Indian navy personnel were taken to jail
by Qatari authorities.
- Following
several months of imprisonment, the Qatari government disclosed that the
eight ex-navy personnel were spying on Qatar’s top-secret submarine
project where the Israeli
government is involved.
- Navy
men are being held in Qatar on suspicion of
hacking on the submarine program.
Oil and Gas are the
most valuable export product of QATER. Qatar has exported $14.9 billion worth
of it to India. Plastics are in second position; India has received exports
worth $700.8 million.
India-Qatar Relations
The apparent deficiency in communication is unexpected
considering the warm historical ties between Qatar and India. Over time, these
relationships have remained strong and healthy. As the first Indian prime
minister to visit Qatar, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit in November 2008
was historic. Following this, in 2015, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, the
Emir of Qatar, paid a visit to India, and in 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi
paid a reciprocal visit to Qatar. Dr. S. Jaishankar, the Minister of External
Affairs for India, has made several trips to Qatar. The significance of the two
countries’ bilateral relationship is indicated by this developing rapport.
The financial side of our connection is notable because in
2021 India was one of Qatar’s top four export markets. Furthermore, one of
Qatar’s top three import suppliers is India. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) and
liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) shipments from Qatar, which are valued at over
U$13 billion, contribute significantly to the $15 billion bilateral commerce
between the two nations.
It seems—what could have been done in initial stage to
secure release of the personnel, is lost.
Now only the diplomatic muscle of India, and negotiating
skill of MEA can save them.
Sources of information:-
1.0 MEA web site.
2.0 Leading Newspapers.
3.0 Resources at QATAR.
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