New Delhi: The Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, arrived in India on Monday, becoming only the fifth head of state to be received at the airport by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. His visit comes a year after he pardoned eight former Indian naval veterans who had been sentenced to death.
“Went to the airport to welcome my brother, Amir of Qatar H.H. Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani. Wishing him a fruitful stay in India and looking forward to our meeting tomorrow,” posted Modi’s official account on X (formerly Twitter).
Modi last welcomed a foreign leader at the airport when he received UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Ahmedabad for the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in January 2023.
He had also received two US Presidents – Barack Obama in 2015 in Delhi and then Donald Trump in 2020 in Ahmedabad – along with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2017, again in Gujarat.
On February 12 last year, the Ministry of External Affairs announced that the Emir of Qatar had released eight Indian nationals who had been arrested on unspecified charges, convicted to death and later had their sentences commuted to prison.
Seven of them returned immediately but the senior-most among them, former Commodore Purnendu Tiwari, has yet to return.
His sister, Meetu Bhargava had last month posted on Twitter in January that the Indian government should have ensured all eight returned together. “MEA should have brought all eight together & with each passing day, it is becoming extremely difficult to explain his 86 year old mother as to why GoI has left her son only,” she posted on January 9.
Ahead of the Emir’s visit, the seven former naval personnel released a statement saying Tiwari remains in Qatar due to a “travel ban.”
“With His Highness the Amir of the State of Qatar visiting India and the history of diplomatic ties between the two countries, we request both leaders to resolve the issue at the earliest and remain hopeful for the lifting of the travel ban and Tiwari’s return. This would allow him to reunite with his family, especially his elderly mother,” the statement said, as reported by Hindustan Times.
Just three days after the announcement of the pardon last year, Narendra Modi was in Doha and thanked him for the return of the former navy veterans who were imprisoned for more than 18 months.
This is the second time that the Qatar Emir has visit India during Modi’s term as prime minister, with the last time being in March 2015.
