While all eyes are on the ongoing football World Cup in Qatar, little is known of the fate of eight former Indian Navy personnel imprisoned there for over 90 days now. The Indian Ex Servicemen Movement (IESM) has now written to External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar, seeking his intervention. Copies of the letter have been forwarded to the prime minister, defence minister and three services chiefs.

According to Major Gen Satbir Singh (retd), chairman, IESM, the eight ex-Navy men were working for Dahra Global Technologies and Consultancy Services in Doha, as per a deal between India and Qatar. Their job was to train Qatar Navy personnel. According to a source, they have been wrongly charged with espionage, apparently on the behest of one of India’s neighbours, and are in confinement. “One wonders how this could have happened when the eight were working under a policy to train personnel of friendly navies,” he tweeted.