PM Modi arrives in Doha after 8 Navy veterans freed, to meet Qatar’s Emir

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Qatar’s capital Doha on Wednesday night, days after the Gulf country released eight former Navy personnel in an alleged case of espionage.

PM Modi was received by State Minister for Foreign Affairs of Qatar, Soltan bin Saad Al-Muraikhi at the airport. During the two-day visit, the Prime Minister will hold bilateral talks with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

“Giving a fillip to the historic and deep-rooted bonds with Qatar! PM @narendramodi arrives on a visit to Doha. Received by State Minister for Foreign Affairs of Qatar, Soltan bin Saad Al-Muraikhi at the airport. Wide-ranging talks with Qatari leadership on strengthening bilateral partnership lies ahead,” Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal wrote on X.

PM Modi arrived in Qatar following his successful visit to the UAE, where he inaugurated the country’s first Hindu temple, the BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir and addressed the mega ‘Ahlan Modi event’.

The Prime Minister last visited Qatar in 2016. Qatar’s Emir paid a visit to India in 2015.

In 2023, India and Qatar marked 50 years of the establishment of full diplomatic relations between both countries.

PM Modi’s visit to Qatar assumes great significance as the Middle East country released eight Navy veterans who were locked up in a detention centre for nearly 18 months on espionage charges, in a major diplomatic victory for India.

In August 2022, Qatar’s intelligence agency arrested eight Indian nationals in Doha, who worked with a private company, Dahra Global, in the alleged espionage case. No charges were made against them publicly by Qatar or India.

The Qatari authorities accused them of spying on a submarine and sent them to jail.

In November 2023, the Indian government filed an appeal against the death sentence at a higher court in Qatar.

The next month, PM Modi met Qatar’s Emir on the sidelines of the COP28 summit in Dubai on December 1. It is believed that this interaction may have prompted a change of position among the Qatari authorities on the death sentence case.

Subsequently, a Qatari court reversed the death penalty of the eight Navy veterans in the Dahra Global case. The death sentence was reduced to jail terms.