India's Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra on Monday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi 'personally supervised' all the developments related to former Indian navy personnel who had been detained in Qatar.
Today, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) welcomed the release of all eight nationals working for the Dahra Global company. "Seven out of the eight of them have returned to India," the MEA said. "We appreciate the decision by the Amir of the State of Qatar to enable the release and homecoming of these nationals."
Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra said New Delhi was grateful for their return. "We deeply appreciate the decision of Qatar's government and the Amir to release them. We are happy to have seven of those Indian nationals back. 8th Indian national has also been released and we continue to work with the Qatar government to see how quickly his return to India would be possible."
"The Prime Minister has himself personally constantly supervised all the developments in this case and has never shied away from any initiatives that would ensure the return of Indian nationals back to home," he added.
The navy veterans, who worked with the private company Al Dahra, were arrested in August in an alleged case of espionage. In October, they were given a death sentence. The men were accused of spying for Israel. Their death sentence, however, was dropped in December.
New Delhi engaged in talks for months with Qatar after the men were arrested in August 2022 and the case challenged ties with Doha, a crucial natural gas supplier to India, which is one of the world's top energy importers.
The men, employed by a private company, were supporting a number of programs and activities for the Qatari Navy, Reuters reported. The former Navy officials were released days after Qatari and Indian firms signed their biggest single deal for supplies of liquefied natural gas and after Modi met Sheikh Tamim on the sidelines of the COP28 climate summit in Dubai in December and discussed the "well-being of the Indian community in Qatar".
PM Modi will visit Qatar on Feb. 14 and hold talks with its ruler, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
(With inputs from Reuters)