External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar is in Doha for a 3-day visit over the New Year for a series of bilateral meetings, as well as to prepare for a visit by Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim ibn Hamad Al Thani to India, expected early next month, sources told The Hindu.
During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Qatar last February, he had met and invited Sheikh Al Thani to India. The Emir’s visit is part of New Delhi’s recent broader outreach to the Gulf region, as Israel’s bombardment of Gaza continues, with the effects of the West Asian crisis now spreading to Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen.
Mr. Jaishankar was due to meet the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Qatar Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani in Doha, and to discuss “political, trade, investment, energy, security, cultural, and people-to-people” ties as well as “regional and international issues of mutual interest”, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement before his departure.
Naval officer stuck in Doha
Mr. Jaishankar’s visit to Qatar, his third in six months, has also raised hopes for the return of the eighth former Naval officer convicted for spying in 2023, who has been detained in Doha while others on death row along with him were pardoned. The decision to drop the death penalty against all eight men was taken at the end of December 2023, but while seven men were released and returned to India in February 2024, Commander (Retired) Purnendu Tiwari has been held back under a travel ban.
The MEA has said that the former Naval officer, who was also decorated with the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, is required to complete certain “formalities” in the Qatari legal system. According to officials, the pending requirements pertain to financial charges against the Dahra Global company where Mr. Tiwari was Managing Director and the other seven former naval personnel were employed.
Family’s plea
However, Mr. Tiwari’s family has rejected any charges of wrongdoing, pleading to the Prime Minister to “intervene” and facilitate his return at the earliest.
“MEA made blunder in leaving my brother alone & now they should not take refuge by citing his financial case, which is as absurd as the first case [of spying]… It is becoming difficult day by day to explain to his 86-year-old mother as to why the Government of India has left [her] son only while seven others are back to India,” Mr. Tiwari’s sister Meetu Bhargava, who has been repeatedly petitioning the government for help, said on social media on December 21.
Wooing West Asia
Among a number of bilateral visits meant to shore up India’s ties with the troubled region, Mr. Modi has travelled to Kuwait while Mr. Jaishankar visited Bahrain, and twice travelled to Qatar in December. After the proposed visit of the Qatari Emir to India, expected in the first or second week of February, Mr. Jaishankar is expected to travel to Oman. The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud also visited Delhi in the last few months.
In addition, New Delhi will receive Iranian Vice Minister for External Affairs Takht Ravanchi on January 2 as its first high-level diplomatic visitor in 2025. He is coming for annual Foreign Office consultations with Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and will meet Mr. Jaishankar as well.
Iran ties
The visit from the new Iranian government is significant, given its growing tensions with Israel, as well as the imminent inauguration of incoming U.S. President Donald Trump later in January. Mr. Trump is expected to take a tougher line on Iran, and to step up sanctions, which will affect India as well.
The Foreign Office consultations were meant to be held in 2024, but were delayed amidst a year in which Iran exchanged missile attacks with Israel, lost its President and Foreign Minister in a helicopter crash, and faced a severe weakening of its international influence due to the Israeli operations against Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, as well as the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad from Syria.
Published – December 31, 2024 09:12 pm IST
