Quatar Conundrum: Is India becoming a Regional Chotu (small) Bully?

Nowadays, Indian social media particularly those sympathetic to the ruling establishment have been articulating stories against the Qatari government, after one of their courts (in a secret trial), found former Indian defense officers guilty of espionage on behalf of Israel. Mercifully, unlike the Kulbhushan Jadhav case, the families of the accused were intimated, and they also received Consular Access. However, the rest of the world does not know the specific charges against them or the contents of the judgment. Qatari law provides for statutory appeal against the Judgement. The appellate proceedings have been initiated with sufficient inputs from the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Indian social media reports recently gloated about the fact that the IT infrastructure of the Qatari government suffered a serious cyber-attack. Some of these posts indicated that this demonstrates the increasing Indian clout in global affairs. I am of the opinion that the Indian general public reaction to the Qatari mistrial and Justin Trudeau’s high-handedness are unwise and likely to complicate the problem further. The Union of India had indicated in the parliament and outside that diplomatic efforts are on to ensure a just resolution of this episode. The Foreign Ministry has advised the people to avoid speculation on the issue.

 

The ICJ, in the Interhandel case (ICJ GL No 34, [1959] ICJ Rep 6, ICGJ 171 (ICJ 1959)) had very clearly said that an international claim based on State Responsibility does not become mature for espousal unless the Local Remedies are fully exhausted. The Local Remedies encompass all the available appeals. The first statutory appeal is halfway. The Union of India has indicated that they are carefully pursuing the first appellate proceedings where there is a theoretical possibility of acquittal if the accused people are indeed innocent. Much has been made about the fact that

a.   the investor-promoter who is of Arab ethnicity has been left out from the proceedings,

b.  During detention the accused had been held incommunicado. Both the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and Covenant on Civil and Political Rights guarantee for all people in the world a Right to a Fair Trial, which includes a reasonable opportunity for the accused to establish their innocence.

Apparently, the trial has not conformed to many of the safeguards that are available in many Western countries. That itself does not mean that the convict-accused should be released forthwith. We have to recognize that Article 2 (7) of the UN Charter stipulates the sanctity of the Rule relating to the Domestic Jurisdiction of a state should be out of bounds for the rest of the world and international organizations. The trial of an accused for a charge of espionage in respect of the offenses committed in a National Defense establishment is not something for strict international scrutiny. However, the government of India has a legitimate interest in ensuring that its nationals abroad receive a right to a fair trial before they are condemned to death. India should focus first on the pursuit of appeal and then follow it up with credible clemency appeals in the event of the convictions being upheld by the first appellate court. Any reliance on muscle flexing or tough diplomatic measures at this stage will be counterproductive and may probably drive the first appellate court in Qatar to take hardened positions.

 

Qatar is an influential actor in the Middle East. Though it has permitted the United States Air Force within its territory, nowadays it is leaning more towards China and Iran than the USA or the West. Indians constitute the biggest chunk of the mostly expatriate workforce in Qatar. Undoubtedly, under the present BJP regime, diplomacy between India and Qatar was on the upswing prior to this incident. But many in India have failed to appreciate that the Justin Trudeau government had taken swift diplomatic efforts with all countries with whom India have legal frictions. In fact, a few days before the pronouncement of orders by the Qatar court, Justin Trudeau spoke to the Qatari government about the complicity of Indian Intelligence in the murder of Nijjar on Canadian soil.

Of late, we find that many activists who were inimical towards the territorial integrity of India were getting bumped off in Pakistan and Canada. In fact, people even accused Indian agencies of having facilitated the poisoning of a Khalistani activist in England who subsequently died of blood cancer. Quite expectedly, the Union of India has disowned any complicity in these suspicious murders that took place outside the territories of India. Many in India are made to believe that the Indian government may have an unclaimed role in the unnatural deaths of at least some of the deceased because at one time the deceased pursued a virulently anti-Indian agenda. Some of them faced charges under draconian anti-terrorism laws. Despite consistent diplomatic efforts by the Indian Foreign Office, India was unable to bring many of these proclaimed fugitives (under Indian law) to face trial in India. People think that finishing these people in their perceived safe dens without leaving any trace indicates that Indian intelligence agencies are replicating the efforts of the leading Western powers and countries like, Russia, China and North Korea. The fact that even Justin Trudeau used the expression ‘credible allegations’ instead of the word ‘credible evidence’ and the fact that Canadian investigations are not fully complete show that there isn’t much of an evidence trail. Cannada’s investigations in Air India bombing us not admirable. This cannot be forgotten. Many in India secretly admire the Indian intelligence establishment for these acts. If the allegations are true, it is regrettable as actions are blatantly illegal under international law.

Today (November 17, 2023), the Indian Foreign minister while speaking to a thinktank of the United Kingdom government had indicated that India does not rule out an investigation in this regard if any credible evidence is shared by Canada. He had categorically denied seeing any evidence (both direct and indirect) that implicated India in the killing of Nijjar. Mercifully, the Union of India has not taken an aggressive or belligerent attitude against the Qatar court’s Judgment as they did against Canada. We have to recognize the following facts before we jump to hasty conclusions and make provocative statements that will jeopardize the rights of Indian convicts in Qatar’s Appellate Courts.

A.  The Indian ex-servicemen took a job in highly sensitive Qatari defense establishments and must have known that a high amount of professional integrity is expected of them.

 

B.  As accomplished Indian Defense Personnel, these accused ought to have known that even in India if they are going to be tried for similar offenses, they would have been court-martialled, which would mean that the right to a public trial is not automatic.

C.  Expat workforce must recognize that the legal systems of the 3rd Country that admit them as their reasonably paid workforce may often have justice administration systems that may not compare well with the rest of the world. But they knew this even before they took the employment.

D. India should espouse the cause of migrant Indian workers abroad whenever they are prosecuted there, particularly in matters that involve global politics. The increasing Chinese presence in Qatar is a matter of concern, and their possible role in this prosecution is sufficient reason for stronger diplomatic efforts after the conclusion of the criminal appeals by the convicts.

E.  Any knee-jerk reaction by the government that would seem to suggest that India should put pressure on Qatar (like gloating over the cyber-attacks, ostensibly sponsored by Indian supporters albeit without any government involvement) will only drive Qatar to harden its position, thereby preventing any diplomatic concession in the future.

With more and more Indians becoming migrants to North America, Europe, and Australia, India should be extremely careful to ensure that Indians, if they are going abroad to work, must conform to the local laws both in letter and spirit. Rightly or wrongly, the former Indian Navy personnel put themselves in a place where they owe the Qatari government an explanation. They should provide the explanation without cribbing about the secret trials in kangaroo courts! The rest of India should not make a mountain out of this mole hill!

People in the Middle East have noticed that Pakistanis and Filipinos get executed in Middle Eastern countries more often than the nationals of other countries. So far, no Indian has been executed in the Middle East. In fact, Iran, Iraq, and even Saudi Arabia had indicated that their jails have more Pakistanis than any other foreign nationals. We had been competing with Pakistan for a long time in respect to several shared concerns. We should not aspire to contest in this notorious area.