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India Got Consular Access For Its Ex-Navy Personnel In Qatari Custody: MEA

By LokMarg 18th January 2024

The Indian ambassador to Qatar and the embassy officials met with the eight detained veteran navy officials and a legal team is looking into the appeal aspect as 60 days have been provided to file an appeal, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday.

“Our ambassador, along with our embassy officials, met the eight detained. As we had conveyed to you last time, the legal team is looking into the appeal aspect. There is a period of 60 days within which they have to file this appeal,” MEA official spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.

“On December 28, the court of appeal had given their verdict. Now, the matter is to go to the court of secession, which will be decided by the legal team…We still have some time. The consular access we had, our ambassador went and met and looked after their well-being,” he said while addressing a press briefing about the consular access with ex-navy personnel.

The eight Indian nationals have been imprisoned in Qatar since October 2022 and were accused of allegedly spying on a submarine programme. The retired naval personnel were sentenced to death by a Qatar court on charges that have not yet been made public officially.

Earlier, the Qatari Court commuted the death penalty sentence of eight ex-Indian naval officers it had arrested last year in the Dahra Global case, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a press statement. The sentence has now been reduced to jail terms.

Describing the judgement, the Ministry of External Affairs said, “We have noted the verdict today of the Court of Appeal of Qatar in the Dahra Global case, in which the sentences have been reduced.

“The MEA also said that the detailed judgement in the case is awaited and are in close touch with the legal team in Qatar.

MEA added, “The detailed judgement is awaited. We are in close touch with the legal team as well as the family members to decide on the next steps. Our Ambassador to Qatar and other officials were present in the Court of Appeal today, along with the family members. We have stood by them since the beginning of the matter and we will continue to extend all consular and legal assistance. We will also continue to take up the matter with the Qatari authorities.”

Earlier, the newly appointed spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, Jaiswal, emphasised the temporal significance of this period, stating, “As far as the issue is concerned, there is a time of 60 days when this issue can be appealed in the Court of Cassation, which is the highest court in Qatar.”

The MEA’s legal team possesses the confidential court order detailing the commutation of the death sentences to imprisonment terms, a move revealed in a press release following the court of appeal’s judgement on December 28.

“We issued a press release in which we informed you that the death sentence, which was originally a death penalty, has been changed to imprisonment sentences. Now our legal team has that court order, and I can confirm that all of them have received sentences of different durations, and the death penalty has been abolished,” Jaiswal said.

Moreover, the Court of First Instance of Qatar passed the judgement against them, according to a statement by the Ministry of External Affairs.

The MEA spokesperson also highlighted the recent meeting that took place between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad and said that they have had a good conversation on the overall bilateral relationship.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani on the sidelines of the COP28 summit in Dubai and discussed bilateral partnership and the “well-being of the Indian community” living in Qatar. (ANI)

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Disturbances In Kosovo Won’t Affect Murmu’s Serbia Visit: MEA

By LokMarg 2nd June 2023

India does not recognize the declaration of independence of Kosovo, Ministry of External Affairs said, adding that the situation in the country won’t affect President Draupadi Murmu’s visit to Serbia, which is scheduled to start from June 7.

Addressing a special briefing on the President’s visit to Suriname and Serbia, MEA’s Secretary West Sanjay Verma said, “Well, we are aware of the recent disturbances in Kosovo, which is at the extreme southern tip of Serbia. We have no reason at this point of time, as I say this, to be concerned that those incidents or have any consequence on the state visit of my president, nor have we been suggested otherwise by the hosts.”
“On the matter of Kosovo, our stance has been quite clear and consistent that we do not recognise the declaration of independence by Kosovo. We, however, also believe that any differences need to be resolved through dialogue,” Verma added.

President Murmu will pay a State Visit to Serbia on June 7, at the invitation of Aleksandar Vucic, President of Serbia.

He also hoped that the disturbances which have occurred over the last few days, are resolved peacefully through talks and that there is a de escalationof the situation.

Tensions have been rising in the past week in Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008. There were clashes with protesters on Monday over the installation of ethnically Albanian mayors in a disputed election.

Replying to media query whether the President’s visit was pre-planned before the political crisis, Verma said that it was pre-planned before all the political crisis.

“For a matter of record, this has been a longstanding invitation. I won’t remember exactly how long, but at least over a year, year and a half. I think because of the conflict in Ukraine, it was it it had to be rescheduled. And now we think it’s a conducive time for this visit to take place,” Verma added.

On Monday, around 25 soldiers from a NATO-led peacekeeping force were injured in clashes with Serb protesters while defending three town halls in northern Kosovo, Al Jazeera reported.

Serbia does not recognize the sovereignty of Kosovo and is backed by China, Russia and five other EU nations who also do not recognize the nation. (ANI)

India, Pak Exchange Lists Of Prisoners, Fishermen In Their Custody

By LokMarg 1st January 2023

India and Pakistan on Sunday exchanged the lists of civilian prisoners and fishermen in their custody, in line with the longstanding agreement between the two countries.

“India and Pakistan today exchanged, through diplomatic channels simultaneously at New Delhi and Islamabad, the lists of civilian prisoners and fishermen in their custody. Under the provisions of the 2008 Agreement on Consular Access, such lists are exchanged every year on 01 January and 01 July,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement.
It said India shared lists of 339 Pakistani civilian prisoners and 95 Pakistani fishermen currently in Indian custody. Similarly, Pakistan has shared lists of 51 civilian prisoners and 654 fishermen in its custody, who are Indians or are believed to be Indians.

In the statement, the Indian government called for early release and repatriation of civilian prisoners, missing Indian defence personnel, and fishermen along with their boats, from Pakistan’s custody.

“In this context, Pakistan was asked to expedite the release and repatriation of 631 Indian fishermen and 02 Indian civilian prisoners, who have completed their sentence and whose nationality has been confirmed and conveyed to Pakistan. In addition, Pakistan has been asked to provide immediate consular access to the remaining 30 fishermen and 22 civilian prisoners in Pakistan’s custody, who are believed to be Indian,” the MEA said.

The ministry said India remains committed to addressing, on priority, all humanitarian matters, including those pertaining to prisoners and fishermen in each other’s country.

In this context, India has also urged Pakistan to expedite necessary action at its end to confirm the nationality status of 71 Pakistani prisoners, including fishermen, whose repatriation is pending for want of nationality confirmation from Pakistan.

The external affairs ministry also said Pakistan has been requested to ensure the safety, security, and welfare of all Indian and believed-to-be Indian civilian prisoners and fishermen, pending their release and repatriation to India.

Similarly, the sides also exchanged the list of nuclear installations and facilities, simultaneously through diplomatic channels in New Delhi and Islamabad. The list was exchanged under the Agreement on the Prohibition of Attack against Nuclear Installations and Facilities between India and Pakistan.

” India and Pakistan today exchanged, through diplomatic channels simultaneously at New Delhi and Islamabad, the list of nuclear installations and facilities, covered under the Agreement on the Prohibition of Attack against Nuclear Installations and Facilities between India and Pakistan,” the MEA said in a statement.

The agreement, which entered into force on January 27, 1991, provides, inter alia, that India and Pakistan inform each other of the nuclear installations and facilities to be covered under the Agreement on the first of January of every calendar year. (ANI)

Over 8,000 Indians Lodged In Foreign Jails: MEA

By LokMarg 9th December 2022

Over 8,000 Indians are currently imprisoned in foreign jails and out of these 4,389 are lodged in Gulf countries, Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan said on Friday.

“As per the information available with the Ministry, the number of Indian prisoners, including under-trials, in foreign jails at present is 8441, out of which 4,389 are lodged in jails of Gulf countries (United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman),” MoS Muraleedharan said in response to a question in Lok Sabha.
While responding to a query on whether the inmates lodged in UAE jails can serve the rest of their sentence in Indian jails, MoS said that under the Agreement on Transfer of Sentenced Persons (TSP), which was signed on November 23, 2011, Indian nationals lodged in UAE prisons can be transferred to India to serve the remainder of their sentence and vice-versa.

“The transfer of a sentenced person to his country of nationality under the TSP Agreement is dependent on completion of various formalities such as prisoner’s willingness to be transferred, consent of the transferring and receiving country, availability of complete documentation necessary for processing the request, clearance from appropriate agencies, etc. Requests for requisite documents for processing the transfer of sentenced persons have been sent to the UAE side,” he added.

This comes after the case of eight former naval officers who were detained in Doha again came into the spotlight.

On December 1, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said that India is regularly responding to the case of ex-Indian Navy officers arrested in Qatar as the embassy is actively pursuing the issue.

He said that the detained Indians are in touch with family members in India.

“We’ve been responding to this regularly. Our embassy is actively pursuing the case. We understand that detained Indians are able to speak to their families in India over the telephone now, some of them have families staying in Doha,” MEA spokesperson said.

The MEA spokesperson further added that some detainees have families in Doha and are being allowed to have physical meetings on a weekly basis.

“Those families are being allowed to have physical meetings, at least on a weekly basis. We will continue to extend all possible consular assistance and seek further consular access to these people. As soon as we have some more updates, we’ll bring that to you,” Bagchi said. (ANI)

Remain Vigilant: MEA Issues Advisory To Indians In Canada

By LokMarg 23rd September 2022

India on Friday issued an advisory for Indian nationals and students in Canada to remain vigilant amid increasing incidents of crimes and anti-India activities in the country.

In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said Indian missions in Canada have taken up these incidents with the Canadian authorities and requested them to probe these crimes.
“There has been a sharp increase in incidents of hate crimes, sectarian violence and anti-India activities in Canada. The Ministry of External Affairs and our High Commission/Consulates General in Canada have taken up these incidents with the Canadian authorities and requested them to investigate the said crimes and take appropriate action,” the MEA said in a statement while stressing that “the perpetrators of these crimes have not been brought to justice so far in Canada.”

“In view of the increasing incidences of crimes as described above, Indian nationals and students from India in Canada and those proceeding to Canada for travel/education are advised to exercise due caution and remain vigilant,” the statement added.

The advisory also said Indian nationals and students from India in Canada may also register with the High Commission of India in Ottawa or the Consulates General of India in Toronto and Vancouver through their respective websites, or the MADAD portal madad.gov.in.

“Registration would enable the High Commission and the Consulates General to better connect with Indian citizens in Canada in the event of any requirement or emergency,” the advisory said.

This advisory comes a day after India on Thursday termed the so-called Khalistan referendum conducted by separatist groups as a “farcical exercise”.

Speaking at a weekly media briefing, MEA Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said India had conveyed concerns to Canada about the use of its territory by politically motivated “extremist elements”.

India has deeply objected that “politically motivated exercises by extremist elements” are allowed to take place in a friendly country like Canada, he said.

“We would term it as farcical exercise. A farcical exercise was held by extremists and radical elements supporting the so-called Khalistan referendum in Canada,” Bagchi said.

He said India has taken up the issue with Canadian authorities and they reiterated respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India.

“The matter has been taken up with the Canadian authorities through diplomatic channels.” The government of Canada has reiterated that they respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India and they will not recognize the so-called referendum which is taking place in Canada,” the MEA spokesperson said. (ANI)