India’s Qatar quandary amid death sentence to Navy veterans

By Manish Anand

New Delhi, October 28: One of the eight Indian Navy veterans, sentenced to death by a lower court in Qatar, is an awardee of ‘Pravasi Bharat Samman’, which was given to him for improving India’s relations with the Middle East nation. While the prospect of Qatar carrying out death sentence is extremely remote, the timing of the judgment apparently reveals diplomatic tight spot for India in the wake of the Israel unleashing punishments on Gaza for the October 7 brutal attacks by the Hamas.

The consensus view among the global commentators converge on the fact that Qatar has astutely positioned itself as a crisis-manager for the US-led western block on the basis of Doha’s heft with violent Islamic movements and even terrorist groups such as the Taliban. Also, Israel’s mainstreaming with the Arabian world is now in jeopardy in the aftermath of the Hamas attacks on October 7, and Qatar may exploit the fluid situations in the Middle East to test New Delhi’s ties with Tel Aviv.

The Maritime Executive in a report has said while quoting FT that the sailors on death row were allegedly spying for Israel. The sailors are also stated in some quarters to have been working for the navy of Qatar for an Italian midget submarine as stated by former Indian ambassador to Doha K P Fabian in a column in The Times of India. Other accounts say that the veterans were working on behalf of Qatar for a submarine acquisition plan.

While the Ministry of External Affairs has officially reacted with “shock”, former diplomats have called upon the government for swift response. “India has moved away from its policy of direct bilateral ties in West Asia as seen from its membership of the I2U2. It is also perceived, after October 7, to be abandoning its commitment to the Palestinian cause…This has led to the political distance between Qatar and India,” opined Vivek Katju, a former diplomat, in a column in the Indian Express.     

Michael Kugelman, South Asia Director of the Wilson Centre, sought to sift India’s stand on the raging war between Israel and the Hamas. It may be noted that the Hamas leadership is essentially stationed in Qatar. Also, Qatar has deeper ties with China, which was also seen with Beijing bagging most of the construction projects for the football World Cup.

“On Friday, India abstained from a UNGA resolution calling for a humanitarian truce in Gaza and voted in favor of a UN draft amendment (it didn’t pass) that would have designated Hamas as a terror group,” Kugelman posted on X, formerly Twitter. It may also be recalled that the Israeli ambassador in India Naor Gilon during a virtual press conference sought from India to designate the Hamas as a terrorist group.

While eight lakh Indian workers are known to be the backbone of the economy of Qatar, the ruling monarchy has been keen to deepen economic ties with India. Qatar may not win an image of a villain in the eyes of the Indian expatriates who answer the demand for the skilled manpower. Incidentally, the UAE is going extra distance to make the Indians at home by allowing construction of Hindu temples.

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About The Author

Manish Anand

Manish Anand is a senior journalist with more than two decades of hardcore reporting on beats such as Prime Minister’s Office, Parliament, BJP, Congress, Planning Commission, NITI Aayog, and scores of Union Ministries.

His past has been with The New Indian Express, The Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle, and The Statesman.

For about 15 years, Manish was also a regular commentator and host for talks on AIR on foreign affairs.

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