National/Regional/International Affairs

“The world suffers a lot. Not because of the violence of bad people. But because of the silence of good people.”

-Napoleon. 

By N. P. Upadhyaya (Aryal) Kathmandu: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has finally yielded, or better say submitted himself, to Bollywood film actor Sharukh Khan, the heartthrob of millions and millions of Indian cinemagoers, in seeking his personal support “for impelling” the Qatari Emir(s) in getting the eight retired Indian Naval officers who were working in Doha, Qatar, at Al Dahra, a consulting company and were found spying for the State of Israel. We will continue with actor Khan sometime later. Indian PM Modi’s anti-Muslim tag: The Indian actor Khan belongs to a religious community that PM Modi and his Hindutva party BJP hate like anything under the sun. In simple words, PM Modi’s concentrated hatred against the minority Indian Muslims was testified by the 2002, ghastly Godhra Massacre that consumed tentatively 2000 (some were Hindus also) onboard railway coaches. However, the competent Indian courts entertained the cases for review, but the fact is that the Indian judiciary of various tiers failed to come to a conclusion that could have justified the massacre that was intended, said the Indian media sources then. Obviously, the then Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Damodardas Modi, influenced the court case, and thus Bilkis Bano, a Muslim lady with a five-month pregnancy, tried to flee the village where she lived with her other family members and tried hard to escape the violence that had already gripped her entire area. Unfortunately, she and her family who were hiding in a field to save their lives were attacked by an irate mob of 20.30 men with sickles, swords, and clubs, said the Indian media WION dated August 17, 2022. Now back to the point: Indian espionage story begins with Qatar wherein some retired Indian Navy officials were hired by Al Dahra Company in Doha which is a company in the oil-rich Gulf state (Qatar) that advises, media sources say, and the Qatari government on submarine acquisitions. The Indian nationals recruited by the Doha company began “leaking” important documents to the State of Israel upon the instructions of ‘someone’ the officials declined to comment. By the way, in recent years, the State of Israel and India have enjoyed intimate bilateral relations. So far so good. Indian nationals work in Qatar in millions and millions and the Qatari State fear that sometime later, the State as such shall be controlled by the heavy influx of Indian nationals much the same as today’s United Kingdom has been best captured by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of Indian origin. CNN dated February 12, 2024, has reported in a news report that “Hundreds of thousands of Indians provide a large proportion of Qatar’s more than 2 million strong foreign workforce, which accounts for 95% of labor in the gas-rich Gulf state, according to United Nations data”. So the rush and the crowd of the presence of Indian nationals in Doha could just be imagined. UK Parliamentarians say that PM Sunak is more Indian than Indian PM Modi himself which makes the Britishers unhappy for obvious reasons. The UK which had ruled the vast South Asian landmass for over hundreds of years is now being commanded by a Britisher of Indian origin. Nepal sooner than later will have been invaded by Indian nationals as they bribe the Brahmin corrupt officials in government and get the Nepali citizenship certificates in their names and their family in herds. The ill-fated Indian nationals: The Indian nationals have a habit of exhibiting love and honor for “mother India” and thus they do whatever instructions they receive from the Indian regime when at work in some alien countries. Hopefully, the eight Indians while working for the Qatari State may have thought to extend support to, willingly or even unwillingly, Israel with whom India has “my dear ties”, however in the process of passing on information to restricted State, the employers in Doha got some hints of such transactions which is how the Indian nationals spying for Israel were nabbed, August 2022, red-handed. Since then the Indian regime at various levels has approached the Amir of the Qatari State to grant the nabbed Indian nationals blanket amnesty, however, since the spy case was subjudice in the Qatari court the State was unable to entertain the Indian appeal. The Indians were sentenced to death in Qatar by the Court, however, in Qatar there is nothing such as a death sentence and most such cases are finally changed to life sentences, we have been told. However, the Indian government continued to insist upon the Qatari State and the Amir for early release of its nationals from prison. Economic Blockade on Qatar: I recall, in and around 2017-18, the tiny State of Qatar was under the sanction of neighboring Saudi Arabia. The small state of Qatar anyhow the other braved the economic sanctions and now has become friendly with Saudi Arabia yet how to preserve its sovereignty and dignity haunts Qatar all the time and thus may have Al Dahra Technologies hire the eight retired navy officers from India, stated in the earlier paragraphs. The greedy Indian nationals, as their genes dictated, began supplying information to Israel and obviously, it must have been not a free lunch to Israel. The Doha intelligence authorities, however, discovered the “secret supply” and the Indians were nabbed by the Doha authorities and sent to prison and later awarded death sentences. Now the story begins: The eight naval officers are at the moment have been released by the Qatar State and the officials are back to their home country. The question is whether the Qatari government released the prisoners on its own or it acted as per the appeal of the Indian government including PM Modi or the Qatari court, as is being floated, and the Emir was influenced by the Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan Bollywood? Let’s talk in detail. Regarding the first option as the Qatari State itself released the Indian convicts simply appears remote if it were the case then Qatar would not have sent the Indian spies to jail for so long. So this option gets null and void. Now the second option which talks of the Indian regime’s appeal to release the Indian nationals too appears remote as the spies were languishing in jail for a long which meant that Qatar didn’t give much weightage to Delhi’s appeal. So the third option remains which is the presence of actor Khan in having influenced the Qatari Emir. This option though appears funny but yet talks of the craze for this Bollywood actor in the Qatari State runs high. In fact, we have been told, that the entire Arab world/gulf countries/oil-rich nations are fans of this Bollywood actor Khan as he is the lone Muslim from India who is being respected and honored by the entire Muslim world in and around the Gulf countries which obviously included the State of Qatar. Highly placed sources in Delhi confirm the use and overuse of actor Khan in the entire act of releasing the Indian convicts working for Israel from the Qatari prisons who by then were serving death sentences. Though in all humility, the Indian Muslim actor Khan rebuked the entrance of the actor in the entire episode by stating that “it was the duty and the obligations of the Indian Government to negotiate diplomatically with the Qatari government and thus he has no connections in having engaged in the act of releasing the Indian felons from the Qatari jails. The actor exhibited his open heart but saved the country’s prestige and honor under instructions from Delhi Babus. The Political Twist: The ever inferiority complex-ridden Bharatiya Janata Party leader, Subraminyam Swamy Harvard Professor has intervened in the Qatari release of the Indian offenders stating that PM Modi, he first says, must take help from the Bollywood actor Khan. Through their Twitter (X) handle, on February 13, 2024, the BJP leader Swamy who is highly Islamophobic suggested PM Modi take actor Khan with him to Qatar and use the latter to influence the Qatari Emir for the release of the Indian spies who worked for Israel. According to The News International, February 14, 2024, Swamy emphatically stated, “It was Shahrukh Khan who had managed to secure the safe release of these Indians after top officials of the Indian foreign ministry including FM, S Jay Shanker, and National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval, failed to persuade Qatar to release former Indian Navy officials. Swamy continued in his Twitter account, adding the News International, "PM Modi secretly pleaded with actor Khan to arbitrate, and thus got an expensive settlement from the Qatar Shiekhs to free Indian Naval officers.” Clearly, this Harvard Economics Professor Swamy has huge differences with Prime Minister Modi though the two belong to the same BJP Party. Professor Swamy takes PM Modi as a non-educated, ruffian and unstable person who believes in speaking a lie round the clock. Now the talk of Expensive settlement: Now that the eight navy officers from India are held by Qatar on spying for Israel charges, the question that confronts us now is what Professor Swamy means when he hints at the release of the Indians at the cost of an “Expensive settlement”? What this expensive settlement could be as demanded by the Qatari State instead of releasing the dangerous convicts from India who were nabbed for having spied for Israel. As and when such incidents take place, the diplomatic undercurrent becomes suddenly high as both sides prefer to negotiate at easy terms and conditions. Now that India has handed down the Qatari State must have concluded that it was the best opportune moment to seek greater concessions from India which is insisting on the release of eight spies. Clearly, at such crucial times, one has to honor the demands of the other side to get things done and hence, let’s presume, that India must have awarded Himalayan concessions to the Qatari State for the release of the eight offenders. Actor Khan links established: The News Minute dated February 13, 2024, claims that Bollywood King Shahrukh Khan was spotted in Qatar watching the AFC Asian Cup Final on February 10, and was greeted by Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Than”. This tentatively helps us all to establish the link as Swamy says or takes with confidence, that actor Khan may have in all likelihood influenced the Qatari rulers in the release of the Indians on a spy mission in Qatar. Concluding remarks: Having said all these, let’s now think of the BJP and PM Modi who continue to hate the minority Muslims, from across the country or in Occupied Kashmir yet when it comes to a crisis, the entire BJP and the Central Delhi regime submit itself to an actor of Muslim community who later helps secure the release of the eight convicts. Islamophobia defined: Both PM Modi and his party colleague S. Swamy are highly Islamophobic. The tragedy with Professor Swamy is that he is the top-most Islamophobic, his daughter Suhasini Swamy is married to a Muslim “Haider” and now she is Suhasini Haider. The enactment of the CAA criticized: India has implemented a citizenship law that excludes migrants who are Muslims, a minority community whose concerns have heightened under PM Modi’s Hindu nationalist government. The rules for the law were announced early this week. It establishes a religious test for migrants from every major South Asian faith other than Islam. Critics argue that the law is further evidence that Modi’s government is trying to reshape the country into a Hindu state and marginalize Muslims. PM Modi in doing so prefers to declare India a Hindu State from what it used to be a secular one. PM Modi’s fresh citizenship move comes close on the heels of approaching Parliament elections in which PM Modi hopes that he will sweep the elections for the third time. The US and UN reaction to CAA: The U.S. government and the United Nations early last week expressed concerns about a contentious religion-based citizenship law in India, with the UN calling the legislation "fundamentally discriminatory in nature." Rights advocates have criticized the 2019 Citizenship Amendment Act, which the Indian government moved to implement recently. The Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International say it discriminates against Muslims. "As we said in 2019, we are concerned that India's Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 (CAA) is fundamentally discriminatory in nature and breach of India's international human rights obligations," a spokesperson of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said commenting on the enactment of the CAA by India. It further said that the office was studying whether the law's implementation rules comply with international human rights law. Islamophobia defined: India declined to vote on a draft resolution on Islamophobia in the UN General Assembly that was presented by Pakistan and co-sponsored by China. The resolution “Measures to combat Islamophobia” was introduced by Pakistan, on March 16, 2024, and was approved by the 193-member General Assembly with 115 votes in favor, 0 votes against, and 44 abstentions, including those from Brazil, India, France, Germany, Italy, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom. Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif said the International Day to Combat Islamophobia served to raise global awareness about the unfounded phobia against Islam and its adherents as well as the need to present a united front to stamp out this contemporary menace”. The PM further said that “Pakistan reaffirms its resolve to work closely with the international community in promoting dialogue, harmony and mutual understanding across religions, faiths, cultures and civilisations. Pakistan Tests medium-range ballistic missile: Antoine Levesque, a Research Fellow for South and Central Defense Strategy and Diplomacy writes for the IISS (07 November, 20230 that Pakistan’s test of the Ababeel medium-range ballistic missile, designed to carry multiple nuclear warheads, puts it one step closer to achieving an enhanced capability to penetrate India’s nascent missile defences”. Antoine further writes, “On 18 October 2023, Pakistan conducted its second test launch of the Ababeel medium-range ballistic missile, which is the first in South Asia to have reached the testing phase that has been designed to carry multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles (MIRVs)”. According to the media division of the Pakistan Armed Forces, writes Antoine, the test occurred for ‘re-validating various design [and] technical parameters and performance evaluation of different sub-systems’. This means that South Asian regional stability is at the moment at risk from belligerent India. That’s all. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect People’s Review’s editorial stance.