Qatar’s release of eight Indian Navy veterans who were sentenced to death on espinar charges has marked a significant diplomatic breakthrough between India and Qatar India swiftly mobilized diplomatic channels and legal assistance to secure the release of the veterans after expressing deep shock at their death sentence by qatar’s Court of first
Instance the ministry of external Affairs pledged to explore all legal options and move the court of appeal in Qatar against the verdict amids pleas from their families the mea assured to assist in their safe return culminating in a successful diplomatic intervention by New Delhi the release personel include Captain net Singh Gil Captain
Sor Vish Commander P pendu tiari Captain birendra Kumar vhma commander sugun nakar pakala commander sanjiv Gupta Commander Amit nagpal and sailor ragesh they distinguished careers in the Indian Navy with some receiving awards for excellence as these eight Navy veterans are now rescued PM Modi is also all set
To visit Qatar on the 14th of February after his visit to Dubai joining us live at this point is commod anel J Singh former Navy officer we also have major general sudhakar G geopolitical analyst joining us live Major General Dru kuch defense expert joins us live Sumit P
Political commentator is also with us on the broadcast let me begin with you first uh Sumit P Sumit what all has transpired behind the door uh doors and behind the curtains uh in these efforts to bring home the veterans it’s not something which happened overnight or
Was easy was it suit uh thank you very much for having me on your show first of all this is a moment to celebrate congratulations to 1.4 billion people and especially Prime Minister Modi pmo HMO and mea they have done Relentless work and our ambassador there of course
Can’t can’t you know miss him out of this you know first of all this was never a case there was no Espino nothing this da consultancy was run by Omani National he got in touch with our people he said we want to build some submarine offs for om you know Qatar please come
Up so Navy officers joined him they gave their identity they gave their n PA passport everything they made the full disclosure who they are they land up there suddenly one day they picked up saying you are doing some espinach then this this om National is let off the
Person who got them there the person who owns the company the person who was behind everything was let off now these people are put in solitary confinement we are not told what happened then suddenly in the peak of this Israel Hamas conflict suddenly we are told they
Are spying for Israel because in the Arabic world you know if you spy for Israel it’s it’s unwarranted death nobody will ask a question nobody will raise a finger then suddenly you come to know on a Thursday evening oh there is going to be death sentence and the death
In you know Qatar happens by firing by youing Squad no when this happened on a Thursday night it was a diplomatic Fiasco to happen you know handle and it was something which we unprepared for because our people have nothing to do why would we spy for mosad why would we
Declare I’m a Comm this and go and spy for anybody then I will hide my identity so at the Prima FIA I believe isi Turkish intelligence and even some elements from Iran might be involved in this I am sure about isi and Turkish intelligence they were trying to plot it
It was a geopolitical thing which they were trying to put Minister Modi in a dock they were trying to put his government on the dock and what happened here immediately people starting Jing Modi big Modi they started all the drama you are not getting our veterans back this is how Indians are treated
This is how decorated officers are treating now the same set of people you know who said this will they come and apologist and no what did the commander s said today I I I watched his video he said I’m thankful to the government of India and the intervention of prime
Minister Bodhi we are back in Islamic world you commute somebody to death then first you have to stop the death sentence and then you get them back it’s a 360 degree turn and I remember that day on that night there was a press release by HMO which said this matter
Will be handled confidentially then I was relieved because they are not talking much about it something is happening because usually when pmo HMO and mea get involved and all the you know you know our friends and all in UA and Arab and all Saudi and all get involved there is something which they
Are cooking you tell me in Independent India when has this happened which other country has been able to do this which other nation has been able to do it forget the death sentence forget the prison now today our veterans are home and they saying bat this can only happen in
Modi otherwise if it’s AA and some other government You Can Kiss It Goodbye we would have lost our eight people and see the amount of pressure which was created Modi G talked to naad Sharif Modi G talked toata talk do do this do that and all kinds of fiascos
All kind of geopolitical pressure International pressure domestic pressure was created but the government was calm and composed and this morning when they announced it I didn’t believe my eyes I Tred to check it at you know couple of places when I saw the news I say how
Come this is possible this is like a miracle it’s like a magic happening and udai nobody could have thought that we’ll get them back into two months time on our soil free and you know free and good that is what we should appreciate this is a great win this is when all the
Functions of the government work together and let’s not forget the personal equation of Prime Minister Modi with the Amir of Qatar and Qatar knows India is a superpower in emerging emerging superpow we need Indians we need Indian business 840 diaspora 840,000 s lakh hindustani then you need
Our business then you need our stature and if you look at the geopolitics Pakistan is alltime low turkey is alltime low Iran is alltime low what are you holding back to us you cannot use our naval officers our decorated officers as Pawns of geopolitical game and India has the stature has the might
To get its people back we have shown that to the world it is not only Israel who can do it India can do it and without firing a bullet and without spilling a drop of blood that is what is the Modi magic and that is what this government has
Done all right let me in fact take that straight across to comra Anil J Singh as well an sing uh you know for the Navy uh fraternity which you belong to uh you know how do you view this new news how has this news been received uh and uh
You know the efforts how is the fraternity seeing these efforts that have gone in to actually bring these veterans back and save them from what uh you know the qataris were trying to do no it is indeed a very remarkable turnaround from what we experienced two or three months ago when they were
Handed the death sentence in fact that took every Body by by not even surprise I think shock and that really got I think the government Machinery moving and realizing that this situation is far far more serious and far worse than than we had probably anticipated these people
Had been working in Qatar for some time they were training Qatari nav personal it had nothing to do with Qatari submarines as was just brought out Qatari submarines is a separate program altogether which is happening wherever it’s happening these officers none of them are submariners they were regular
Naval officers all of them with very distinguished track records and they after retirement it was not that they were doing something stitious they very very legitimately took up a job assigned to the Qatari to train the Qatari Navy properly in a proper legal manner in a fully transparent Manner and that is why
The fact that when they were picked up and put in solid confining it took Everyone by surprise about a year ago and since then of course a lot of effort was being made back Channel also to get things done but things were things apparently went from bad to worse and
They got the death sentence and I think that is when really the The Diplomatic and the and the complete government Machinery swung into action personal equations at the highest level were were were used as just brought out the Prime Minister personally intervened the external affairs minister was very sort
Of alive to the situation he was interacting with the families on a regular basis the Navy itself the Navy had a role to play in the background because navies don’t really are not the instruments of you know getting this kind of thing done but after all they
Were ex-naval officers so the Navy was equally concerned we had meetings with the families we met the chief of Naval staff all that happened uh things were moving within Navy was doing its back Channel diplom trying to you know uh trying to get things done at the at the
Diplomatic level and I think like this brought like this like it was just brought out I think everybody put their act together very effectively starting from the Prime Minister downwards to lead to this situation where all of these seven of the eight officers are back on Indian soil the eigh one will
Also be back it’s just a procedural delay I think in in in his arrival and I think it the families I met the families a couple of times they were devastating when the sentence was announced understandably so I mean we’ve known them we’ve been we’ve been colleagues
Together it was terrible to sort of interact with them and and you know realize their anguish and see their anguish and I think today they all must be very relieved they their friends have gone and met them we’ve seen on what on social media on WhatsApp nebal groups
Coates are going and meeting them families are getting together there’s a lot of uh joy in every family uh obviously so and I’m glad that this Saga has finally come to an end most satisfactorily and I think this speak does speak volumes for India’s firstly de diplomacy it’s uh it’s well more or
Less I won’t say use the word cloud but it’s certainly being able to influence events in a much larger sort of area of interest and of course uh you know our our growing stature as a country does help so I’m I’m personally as a naal off
I’m very glad they’re back this thing is behind them and hopefully everything from here will move smoothly forward yes obviously it’s it’s not not something though maor General duu K that happened overnight is it uh it’s something that that took a lot of effort that took a lot of back Channel dialogue
Uh diplomacy intervention uh and also perhaps intervention at the very top uh from the PM as well may general kot what all do you believe has happened to secure this release and achieve this day well thank you as far as intervention is concerned I think without the topmost intervention
Of the Prime Minister of India uh we wouldn’t have got this result in this time frame but having said that it was not simply just the Prime Minister the entire pmo the mea the uh minister of external Affairs uh the home Ministry uh the Indian Navy and I think there
Must have been other channels too but it it was it was required because on on multiple grounds I think the first ground we must understand is they were they were prosecuted on charges of spine now that is the most absurd charge possible because no person in his right
Mind will send eight people to to spy on a training on a training Mission all of them together you know it boggles the imagination so this is a setup it was a setup operation um most probably uh done by the Pakistani isi the Turks could be involved we really don’t know the truth
Will come out the truth can never be hidden that is one number two when we look look at the um when you look at the release it is not a pardon remember the pardon would have been an admission of guilt so the EM would have pardon them
And that would have been an admission of guilt that okay you are guilty but I’m still pardoning you but for the Emir also to Pardon eight individuals I think would have reflected in a very adverse manner on his leadership so what has actually happened the highest court in Qatar the court of
Cassation as they call it it doesn’t look into the merits of the case it looks into the procedural aspects and here they found that the procedural aspects or whatever aspect they would have looked into were flawed and hence the release now this release sets forth many things one it uh it sends the
Signal to both India and qar that your relationships are in pretty Solid Ground number two as far as the Emir of Qatar is concerned his Excellency has been um let us say put out of his predicament predicament he know longer as to uh give a pardon which you would have liked to
Do had the relationship because uh it is not worth sacrificing Eight Men of India who spoil relationship between India and and Qatar the EM wouldn’t have done that so I think it has worked out well for for all concern the the manner in which it has been executed but let’s also
Understand I think there is a realization worldwide now that India is a growing PA yes we are the fifth largest economy but we are we are going upwards the trajectory is upwards and as far as the heft of the Prime Minister is concerned he’s aown Statesman in the
World it is not simply confined to India so when you look at a stature when you look at people talking abroad whether you’re talking to somebody in Africa whether the person is in Europe or in Singapore or elsewhere in Asia you find they say one thing they have great
Appreciation for the prime minister of India and when the Prime Minister lends his voice to a particular situation I think the world listens and in this case I’m very glad that the Emir of Kuwait who has a good relationship with the prime minister of India
Um they they listened uh it was a very justifiable case and the last point which I want to bring out is I think we need to go further now further onto this you see get into the backdrop into the background of this conspiracy who was behind it I hope the Kuwaiti authorities
Again behind this conspiracy behind this eracy and if the pakistanis or anybody else is involved I think that the the uh the openness should ensure that the world comes to know this is what happened and the people involved are prosecuted in due course of time UD all
Right let me take that across to our other guests as well let me take that across to Major sudhakar G as well Major sudhakar G now uh what do you believe uh you know this this how do you believe this uh you know this decision this relief should be read diplom atically
And what does it really say the way we’ve managed this of India Qatar relations currently with good evening thank you for getting me to your show I mean I’m left with nothing everything has been covered by the the previous co- panelist and uh but let me just give a
Perspective to everything you see um conspiracy is well established whether it is isi or somebody else that’s also is well established you see as I look at things the geopolitics and the geoeconomics now the geoc security panning out world over I I find I suspect that there is an angle of China
The elephant in the room is China so just the sequence of event which is given by the coordinator in the news item they actually uh point a finger uh to you know putting pressure on India putting pressure on the leadership of the hierarchy and uh to downside the
Level of confidence of our honorable prime minister and his dispensation that is one angle second thing that I wish to highlight I myself I have been an Oman um for as a president and CEO of a multinational company it’s very difficult it is simply next to impossible to get anybody out who’s been
Sentenced given a death sentence and these countries they practice Sharia law so and in the kind of a time frame it has happened I I don’t think one particular individual would have actually led to this particular successful release there is a collective participation and involvement led by The
Honorable prime minister himself so if you look at Qatar today the best friend of Qatar are two countries if I have to prioritize one is us the second is UK and fortunately India enjoys best of relations or at least better relations than what it had in the past with both
The countries apart from that the Indian diaspora also play a very very important role like Sumit has brought out my knowledge suggests that there are about seven 7 lakh or so he’s saying 8.42 and if that be the figure out of 9 million population Indian diaspora in
Middle East we have almost close to 8.5 lakh people in Qatar itself but more than anything else you see every nation will take an action based on its National interest what is the national interest of Qatar as in today a few I think couple of months back we had
Fallen apart with Qatar on some issue but same country today is looking for the trade for the commercial activities for the gas the liquid natural gas that we are importing from Qatar today is approximately 35% of the total energy security and it is likely to go up in
Due course of time as on today total percentage comes to 6.2% by 2030 we are looking at a Target of almost about uh 15% 15% mixture of the energy security so as to uh reduce the the emission Factor so as to go in for the targets that we have
Set for ourselves if this is the kind of Target we are looking at for import and what does India export India exports nothing except for the jewelry yes in Du bu about 7 to 10 or years we had exported rice Qatar is to be rice and
Weight but but besides that and if you look at the trade imbalance which we have it is highly against India’s favor highly against India’s favor so all these things actually it’s a winwin kind of a thing which has happened plus I think there is a bigger geost strategic
Issue that has come about panned out after G20 the leadership quality The credibility of India and today’s multipolarity the world over there is only one country which can bring peace to the West Asia that is India there is only one country country which can actually lead by the finger of I would
Say rules-based order unfortunately I’m using this articulation the rules based International order does not have any rules if at all it has got it is actually exempting the superpower from any kind of rules so therefore and there is no universality of the rules that we are talking of it is India which is
Actually walking the talk and preaching what it practices whether it is basa kakum or it is diplomacy and dialogue I think the time has come that India is actually asserting its self-confidence a resurgent India actually showing its might and strength to the world order and opening up the eyes of the people
Who have no character who have no principles who have no rules that themselves they set the rules for the world they don’t practice themselves I think it’s it’s a clear indication of India bouncing back to its Resurgence status of the civilizational era back to
You yes let me you know take that to Mel K and obviously there is an opportunity now to take these relations forward Prime Minister Modi will be in catar later this week perhaps there will be dialogue and conversations at the highest level uh this week as well major
K oh well there’s already just a few days ago a $78 billion deal has been announced uh as far as import uh of L gas is concerned and um that I think itself is a very positive step so uh any deal to be announced I don’t think the
Qataris will be too interested in imports from India but we will be interested in Energy Products as far as Qatar is concerned and they can even set up their establishments uh uh you know fund certain Enterprises within India um this is the right time to do it because please remember even countries like
Qatar are looking for places where they can park their funds uh the dollar U well they they can park it in dollar terms but the dollar over a period of time is on the way out and I think the rup Indian rup will be a reasonably
Stable currency in the years to come so when they’re looking forward um looking to the future either they can deal in gold or they can deal in Indian rupees but investing in India I think is going to be a very profitable um uh very a profitable proposition for
Them what will they discuss what will the Prime Minister discuss I think those discussions that have already taken place you know it isn’t that the Prime Minister goes there and starts the discussion uh over the last 6 months or one year a whole lot of spade book would
Have been done so if any deal has to be signed it’ll be signed based on those uh based on what has been discussed but in my in my but in my view it will be restricted to energy I don’t see anything else happening at this moment
UD all right let me in fact take that across to Sumit p as well Sumit uh what do you expect from the PM’s visit and also uh Which Way Forward for India Ari relations also this PM’s Middle East policy approach certainly has reaped dividends hasn’t it see udai the prime
Minister’s Middle East policy has changed the Paradigm you’re seeing a temple a bavya Mand come up in Abu Dhabi or Dubai which was unseen unheard of unpredictable that is happening and The Honorable prime minister is going to be tomorrow and the inauguration of 14th now you have more than 60 70,000 people
Which are going to do in this uh which is going to come to meet the Prime Minister which is again a landmark even for the for the leaders of the Islamic world to get 100,000 people in one place to meet is something difficult so Prime Minister Modi getting the highest
Civilian awards from the Islamic world is there we have 140,000 diaspora today Qatar is we are the third biggest market for the only product of Qatar that is this LS now Qatar is not a very powerful economy it is has a GDP of around $380 billion but the population is very small
So even in the long run now we have got a plant opened in Africa which Mr Puri inaugurated again a$2 billion deal India is also trying to diversify it so Qatar needs India for its third biggest market for lgy exports which might become number two in the world and 840,000
Indians which literally run Qatar imagine if India moves out of the market and the 840,000 Indians are no longer there you can imagine what will happen to the country of Qatar today 22% of the Qatar is Indians and 15% of the Kat population is Hindu let me remind you so
Qatar has to also see it ways how do they want to handle India because India is not country somewhere Island where you you know you can handle as for your whims and fenes gone on those days they know the cloud of India they know the power of India they know they need India
More than we need Katan because eventually when we are moving to EVs and today I was reaching that you know new automobile manufacturers are manufacturing these hydrogen cell based engines which has already happened today So eventually the Qatar has to also see where it is going to fend you know and
We are supplying all the food and all the items to Qatar you might have all the oil and gas in the world but you need wheat and chavel you can’t eat R we going to eat sand so we have our place we have our stature it is better Qatar
Understands us and I think one message is also given to Qatar is don’t get into these gimmicks you cannot get hold of Indian people and think that Indian veterans are pawns which you can use in your game of geopolitics to please you know some pakistanis or Iris or maybe
Turks or whatever if there’s a flawed case which has built against indiia this is your problem you allowed it to happen this is your mistake our people do not do esog and our people do not go with a rank and a title and do ESP then suddenly wake up one
Day what is this happening this is mockery we are not Somalia you have to treat us with respect you need our people good you don’t need it’s okay but these kind of games India is tired of I think the message is very clear you want trade you want relation it is mutual
Respect Mutual dignity and mutual trust if you are willing to walk the talk it’s okay else today India has options we can survive with or without you is we are not a country where you know our people are sending us money like Pakistan and we are surviving by by one those tits
And bits no India is not a country it has to be a relation of mutual trust and Brotherhood so that is the time and these kind of fiasco should not happen because people out of India and people within India will try to take advantage of this we don’t want government of
Qatar to create these fiascos for us we are not into Espino we don’t do it for mosad mosad is good enough even to know you know how many how many cousin Brothers cousin sisters will the Amir have which are of course Undeclared so I will I’ll rest my is there so don’t
Don’t expect M will Outsource the tender to us and tender we were the L then we got we got om involed and omy got Indian officers involed then he went to Qatar then we did the espach then om and our officers are there I mean yeah it’s a
Alisten wonderand story I mean which kind of a s government believes in all this crap I mean did we apply for a tender when mosad is giving tenders for Espino and we were the el1 I mean this is absurd this is theater of absurd so people in Middle East have to get it
It’s not only Israel it’s only India who can also major and get its people back I was always telling on every media we will get our people back safe and sound it’s a matter of time B that is the message which should go to everybody Indian lives matter and especially when
Our forges when our veterans we they are assets of India and you cannot handle assets of India where on your whims and fenes if you have some you know geopolitical Ambitions and attitudes keep them with you but trade will happen on mutual respect Mutual dignity and mutual trust that is the message loud
And clear we but not at a compromise okay sing I’ll leave the last word to you I think what has happened is I know all this we had a lot of rhetorical discussion this evening but finally the bottom line is our veterans are back safe and sound uh India has proven its
Its diplomatic dexterity our political Cloud I would again not use the word cloud but our political heft so these are all things which have and and I think it’s been a very well-coordinated uh approach was getting these people back there has been a lot of back Channel diplomacy you know when this
Case happened initially the death sentence was announced by the by the lowest court but prior to that the general impression was that there is no case because like has been brought out there was no SPN there was nothing to prove that there was anything of the
Sort so the Assumption was there is no case it is obviously being done at the behest of somebody so this will just fall apart but when the death sentence was announced I think that was really a clarent call for for the establishment to sit up and take notice and say now
This is getting serious and we have to do something really you know we have to take some serious steps to ensure that our people don’t come to any harm and these are very respectable uh professionally qualified highly respected senior Naval veterans they were not some some you know people from
Just picked up from here and there and like Sumit brought out why would the MOs as us to do their ESP they they they’re the world leading spy agency so I think all told finally the bottom line is our people are back safe and sound the government of India has stood by our
Veterans uh it’s done a remarkable I think job and it speaks it orgers also well for Indo katari relations with the Prime Minister going there next week that relationship will start off on a much much shorter footing than it would have had this sort of cloud been hanging
Over this relationship during his visit all right let’s leave it at that my thanks to all of our guests for joining us on this discussion for more such videos subscribe to the news te YouTube channel hit the Bell Icon
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