National/Regional/International Affairs
“The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always as certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.”
-Bertrand Russel.
By N. P. Upadhyaya (Aryal)
Kathmandu: The incumbent Chinese envoy in Nepal, Chen Song, is no less an intelligent and smart diplomat as compared to his Indian counterpart in Kathmandu.
Ambassador Chen Song proved his mettle the day when he told a Kathmandu gathering, “Nepal is the most unfortunate country in South Asia to have a neighbor like India.”
While the Ambassador’s blunt remarks on India shook the very diplomatic foundations in Nepal, since the explanations were near to correct, valid, or very close to accurate, not so many people made comments on Chen’s “research-based conclusions”.
Albeit some declared Indian brains demanded that the Chinese envoy be declared a persona non grata.
However, it is this special set that ignores or keeps silent when their own preferred Ambassador from Delhi “micro-manages” Nepal as and when it suits to do so.
However, sane voices prevailed over the “Defend My India theory” — a theory enunciated by those paid and posted agents of India who loiter in Kathmandu in different shades and colors and even take the form of vibrant media at times.
Interestingly, yet another set in Kathmandu’s media circle is the one who exhibits his proximity with the Chinese diplomatic mission or for that matter the Chinese diplomats and enjoys foreign trips (albeit to China) but “reports” candidly on the secrets he or she has thus gained from his proximity with the Chinese establishment in Nepal inevitably to India.
Personally speaking, I am aware of some of Nepal’s vibrant media men who double-cross the Indian and the Chinese. However, the end result is that India benefits from such a double cross.
The benefit of this double-cross engineering is that ultimately India prevails, and the net result is that one new house is being built in Kathmandu.
Now back to the point:
Had the Kathmandu-based Chinese Ambassador Chen Song been posted to the State of Qatar, the Qatari emirate must have been sounded in advance that some eight Indian retired Navy officials working for the Qatari state were deeply engaged in acts of “espionage” in Qatar and had been doing so at the behest of the Indian government in Delhi.
However, the envoy is in Nepal not in Qatar.
Indian media outlets reject the notion propagated by some “interested media outlets”.
So writes Lazar Berman and agencies for the “Times of Israel dated October 26, 2023, that “according to reports in Indian media, the officials were arrested last year on suspicion of spying for the Jewish State on Qatar’s military submarine program”.
The Times of Israel hits the nail right on the head when it writes, “The death sentences to eight Indian Naval Officials comes at a very sensitive time amid the Israel-Hamas war, as Qatar has been playing an intermediary role in negotiating the release of several Israeli hostages held in Gaza by the Palestinian groups, as well as the entrance of some humanitarian aid for Gaza’s civilian population”.
Now I beg to depart from the original story to the one which shook the very foundations of Canada-India bilateral relations beginning this year in September (to be specific September 9-10 at the time of the G20 meet hosted by South Asian policemen aka India — the South Asian leech wherein India exploded on Canada when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hurled allegations backed by several competent world’s intelligence agencies, including the Five Eyes Alliance. FEA, over the “target-killing” of one Canadian national in British Columbia this June 18, 2023.
The Canadian accusation hit one Indian diplomatic mission official for having masterminded the killing of Hardeep Sigh Nijjar-a Canadian national from India’s Sikh community allegedly operating in favor of Khalistani movement in and across Canada.
India almost scolded Canada over the accusations and summarily rejected the Canadian claims.
India was backed by its own pet-nursed, kept-in-reserve Godi media which pounced upon Canada as if Canada had turned even inferior to “servant” Bhutan and freshly Republican Nepal.
Nepal is currently having the same or not even of the Bhutanese standing in South Asia.
The devilish way, India reacted to Canadian remarks gave an impression that India terribly fears the insult and humiliation that is caused by acts of “spying” or for that matter “issue of espionage” than what comparatively it (India) enjoyed over the extraterritorial killing and that too by one of its recruited Indian diplomats in Canada.
Interestingly, Qatar is as tiny an Emirate as could be taken as equivalent to the Union territory of Delhi itself or not even that.
The Jerusalem Post though doesn’t speak of India spying on Qatar for Israel, yet it says that the eight Indian nationals were arrested in August 2022 and kept for some time in a solitary cell.
After spending extended periods in solitary confinement, the poor greedy Indians were confirmed by some New Delhi officials that they were charged for having passed on secret information to Israel-India’s darling partner these years and decades. After this mental embarrassment, the Indian Navy officials were sentenced to death by a Qatari court on October 27, 2022.
Since then the Indian government in Delhi has been building pressure on Qatar to release its ill-fated nationals, however, Qatar is tight-lipped as the case is subjudice now.
It is altogether a different matter that there was a time when the diplomatic mission of Israel was being spied on by the Indians in Nepal.
Moshe Dayan, as I faintly recall, upon his arrival in Kathmandu at the end of the sixties or say early seventies, India looked upon Nepal very seriously as if Nepal committed a blunder by establishing diplomatic ties with Israel.
It was a time when from among the entire South Asian landmass, Nepal was the single country to have diplomatic ties with Israel.
At the moment, India and Israel have not only excellent ties but India to a greater extent is a blind supporter of Israel.
India knows how to exploit ties with Israel.
I must mention that Moshe Dayan was an Israeli soldier and concurrently a statesman who led Israel to dramatic victories over its Arab neighbors and became a symbol of security to his countrymen.
He landed in Nepal as the country’s foreign minister, as I recall.
No wonder then this Israeli symbol used to drop in Kathmandu at times.
Since October 7, 2023, Indian Prime Minister Modi has expressed complete solidarity with Israel and on October 27, India even abstained from the UN General Assembly resolution calling for a humanitarian truce in Gaza.
It was on October 07, 2023, that the War broke in between Israel and Palestine.
Perhaps it is this Indian stance that will further complicate India’s to save its nationals…as the expressed Indian desire is that the Qatari Emir one fine morning will award blanket amnesty to the avid Navy officials who, unfortunately, abided by the instructions of their government and spied for Israel.
However, the Indian expectation is that the sitting Qatari Emir shall announce the release of the Navy men in and around the time of approaching Ramadan festivals-the Muslims.
Yet, it is not that easy enough as Qatar is not Nepal and Qatar has an Emir not Ram Chandra Paudel — the India selected and approved President of Nepal.
Had India man Paudel been the Emir of Qatar, he would have himself approached the Indian government in Delhi and apologized for having nabbed the eight Navy officials spying for Israel.
But Alas! Paudel is the servant of India, it is talked about in the high-level political circuit both in Kathmandu and Delhi.
So the option of releasing the Navy officials on Amnesty or not is what depends on the mood and benevolence of the Qatari Emir and thus above all the case being currently a sub-judice one, let’s keep on speculating whether Qatar obliges India or not?
Qatar can’t be pressurized.
In fact, millions of starving Indian population are currently working in Qatar and the Indian nationals working in this tiny Emirate, send billions and billions of dollars back home to India which is what has been keeping the average Indian population alive.
Moreover, India imports Liquefied Natural Gas, LNG, from Qatar and in lieu sends millions of its poor nationals to Qatar each year.
All about the issue:
Columnist Maziar Motamedi writes for Al Jazeera dated May 02, 2023, that the convicted eight Indian nationals were senior employees of Dahara Global Technologies and Consulting Services, a company advising on a Qatari programme aimed at obtaining high-tech Italian Submarines that even could evade radar detection”.
Tired by the Saudi Arabian economic blockade imposed, the country in recent years preferred a perfect and secured Qatar and thus sought the help of the Italian company for a submarine which could not be detected by the neighbors, more so by Israel.
However, as luck would have it, the Indian greed broke the tender hearts of Qatar which gave birth to such an ugly episode.
However, Israel has so far not spoken even a single word and has neither accepted the allegation nor rebuked the high-voltage Qatari allegations.
A Good News for India:
The news is that the Qatari Emir’s death sentence is finally equivalent to a “life sentence” and thus the convicted and their family back home in India have nothing to panic about. 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.
Login to add a comment