The diplomatic back channel between New Delhi and Doha has clearly been humming overtime. In the wee hours of a day that Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an impromptu visit to Qatar, that hum brought seven of the eight former Indian navymen sentenced to death in the Gulf nation, home.

The return ended a prolonged effort to secure their release through multiple strategies that involved both legal and diplomatic interventions besides top-level political outreach.

“The Government of India welcomes the release of eight Indian nationals working for the Dahra Global company who were detained in Qatar,” India’s foreign ministry said in the morning.

“Seven out of the eight of them have returned to India. We appreciate the decision by the Amir of the State of Qatar to enable the release and homecoming of these
nationals.”

The death sentences had been commuted to life terms last December by an appellate court in Qatar.

Later on Monday, the foreign ministry announced that Prime Minister Modi would fly to Doha on Wednesday as part of his scheduled two-day visit to the UAE from Tuesday.

Foreign secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra announced the short trip to Doha during the media briefing on the UAE visit, but refused to say whether the hitherto unscheduled Qatar visit was connected to the release of the veterans.

This will be the Prime Minister’s second visit to Qatar. He had met the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamin bin Hamad Al Thani, on the sidelines of the climate conference in the UAE in December, ahead of the kingdom’s National Day, December 18, when the head of state is allowed to pardon convicts.

Asked whether the Prime Minister’s intervention led to the release of the veterans, Kwatra did not divulge much.

“The Prime Minister has himself personally constantly supervised all the developments in this case and has never shied away from any initiatives that could ensure the return of the Indian nationals home,” he said.

Apart from providing legal support to the veterans, all diplomatic channels were tapped into simultaneously. The external affairs ministry also sought to keep tight control over the media narrative, urging journalists in India to avoid speculation for fear that an incorrect report could queer the pitch for backroom parleys.

Asked when the eighth veteran — identified as Commander (retd) Purnendu Tiwari but not officially named — would return, Kwatra said: “He has been released and we continue to work with the Qatar government to see how quickly his return to India would be possible.”

Sources said that since Tiwari had been living in Qatar for close to two decades with his family, he needed more time to wind up his stay.

Interacting with journalists at Delhi airport, some of the seven veterans attributed their release to Modi’s “personal intervention and his equation with Qatar”. On arrival, they raised chants of “Bharat Mata ki jai” at the airport.

One of them said: “I feel relieved and delighted to finally be back home safe and sound. I wish to thank Prime Minister Modi as this wouldn’t have been possible without his personal intervention. I also express my gratitude to the Emir of Qatar.”

A Qatari court had last October handed the death penalty to the seven retired naval officers and one former sailor, after they had spent over a year in solitary confinement in the West Asian country.

Neither Qatar nor India has officially revealed the nature of the charges against the eight that led to their arrest in August 2022.

Media reports, however, said Qatar claimed to have intercepted electronic communication that revealed the eight had spied on behalf of Israel on the Qatari navy’s secret project of Italian midget submarines that could evade radar detection.

Apart from Commander Tiwari, the men are Captain Navtej Singh Gill, Captain Saurabh Vasisht, Captain Birendra Kumar Verma, Commander Sugunakar Pakala, Commander Sanjeev Gupta, Commander Amit Nagpal and Sailor Ragesh.

They worked for a private defence services provider — Al Dahra Global Technologies and Consultancy Services — when they were taken into custody by Qatari intelligence in Doha.