India needs to walk a tightrope to free Navy veterans
The sentencing of eight Indian naval veterans to death by a Qatar court has caught the government back home off guard. The expectation was that the officers, arrested in a surprise move on August 30 last year on charges that have not been made public so far, would be able to return home once the trial was over. But the shocking verdict has mounted an enormous foreign policy challenge before India, primarily because of the timing and the prevailing geopolitical situation. It has come at a time when almost the entire West Asia is embroiled in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in some way or the other, and India is being made to pick sides in a conflict in which it has little say. India will find negotiating with Qatar, whose sympathies lie with Palestine and Hamas, tricky after openly declaring support for Israel right after the October 7 terror attacks. Though India has since tried to balance its stand by voicing concern over the loss of lives and reiterating its historical understanding of the Palestinian cause, it still needs to be mindful of the regional power equations and intrigues while dealing with any Gulf nation, not just Qatar.
The secretive trial makes the case open to speculation. The Navy veterans were working for a firm involved in training Qatar’s defence forces. Expressing “deep shock”, India’s foreign ministry has said it is “exploring all legal options”. But the government must realise that legal recourse alone will not be enough to ensure that the officers walk free. India will have to walk a precarious diplomatic tightrope here. It has been attempting to build on its historically friendly but unremarkable relations with Qatar, achieving considerable success in recent years. An estimated 7.5 lakh Indians live and work in Qatar, constituting the country’s largest expatriate community. Besides, India has forged strong trade and defence ties with the country.
It is surprising then that there has been little communication between the two countries over the arrest, charges and subsequent proceedings. Given the recent upgrade in its relations with the Arab country, India should have been able to engage with its leadership more directly. That has obviously not happened. However, all is not lost. The challenge at hand will surely test the depth of the bilateral ties, but failure is hardly an option for India here.