Congress: Manish Tewari, a Congress MP, claimed that the Centre would have “blood on its hands” and that the BJP-led NDA government would be held accountable if anything were to happen to the eight former naval personnel in Qatar. In spite of Congress “raising” the matter in the Lok Sabha, he claimed that whatever the Centre did to secure the release of eight former naval personnel in Qatar “was not enough”. At that time, he claimed, the cops were detained in isolation.
Naval Officers Sentenced in Qatar
His comments followed the former Navy officials’ execution sentence from the Court of First Instance in Doha, Qatar, for their roles in the now-defunct Al Dahra firm, formerly known as Dahra Global. “On December 7, 2022, I had raised this issue in Lok Sabha. At that particular point of time, these eight senior naval officers had been in solitary confinement for 120 days. (External Affairs minister) Dr S Jaishankar responded to my intervention with a letter on December 26, 2022, in which he listed out certain things government of India was doing, but clearly that was not enough,” he said.
Congress MP Expresses Concern
“Eight senior decorated officers of Indian Navy have been sentenced to death on charges which are still not known. I had asked in Lok Sabha what are the charges against him. It is astounding that the cavalier manner in which NDA-BJP govt, Minister Jaishankar and his ministry have dealt with this issue. If anything happens to these 8 people then their blood will be on the hands of NDA-BJP govt,” Tewari added. According to party MP Shashi Tharoor, there is “mystery and opacity” surrounding the case specifics. He expressed optimism that the Ministry of External Affairs and the Prime Minister’s Office will step in to help return the former Indian naval men back to their homeland.
Shashi Tharoor Calls for Urgent Action
“Shocked to learn that #Qatar has passed a death sentence on eight former @IndianNavy officers. The details of the entire case are shrouded in mystery & opacity. Trust @MEAIndia & @PMOIndia will act immediately with the highest levels of the Qatar government to support an appeal and bring them home. @DrSJaishankar,” he said on X. The Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) responded to the verdict right away. The MEA expressed its profound worry in a statement released on Thursday in response to the ruling. The ministry stated that they have access to preliminary information on the ruling and are looking forward to the Qatari authorities releasing the full ruling.
Names of Sentenced Naval Personnel
Those sentenced are Capt Navtej Singh Gill, Capt Birendra Kumar Verma, Capt Saurabh Vasisht, Cdr Amit Nagpal, Cdr Purnendu Tiwari, Cdr Sugunakar Pakala, Cdr Sanjeev Gupta and Sailor Ragesh. The former Indian Navy commanders all had illustrious service records spanning up to 20 years, and they had all held prominent roles such as force instructors. The highest award given to an Indian living abroad, the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, was given to Commander Purnendu Tiwari in 2019. Commander Tiwari received the award for improving India’s reputation overseas, according to a post made at the time by the Indian Embassy in Doha.
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