From Qatar To Syria And Sudan: An Examination Of The Government’s Ten Diplomatic Triumphs That Preserved Indian Lives

India achieved a significant diplomatic victory when eight veterans of the Indian Navy who had been imprisoned and given death sentences by Qatari authorities for spying were freed. Of the eight veterans, seven came back to India and expressed gratitude to the government for securing their release. These veterans were employed by Qatar-based Dahra Global Technologies, a supplier of defense services.

After enduring various hardships over the past 18 months, the eight veterans—Captain Navtej Singh Gill, Captain Birendra Kumar Verma, Captain Saurabh Vasisht, Commander Amit Nagpal, Commander Purnendu Tiwari, Commander Sugunakar Pakala, Commander Sanjeev Gupta, and Sailor Ragesh Gopakumar—finally made their way back to India on Monday.

India has already guaranteed the repatriation of its nationals who were swept up in a geopolitical emergency. India has often evacuated its countrymen from warring areas; in fact, it conducted one of the biggest rescue missions during the Covid-19 crisis, successfully returning six million Indians home.

IDENTICAL DIPLOMATIC WINNS FOR INDIA ARE LISTED HERE:
Operation Raahat: When the Yemeni civil war broke out in 2015, the Indian Army initiated “Operation Rahat” to evacuate around 4,000 Indian citizens and other foreign nationals from Yemen. Then-foreign minister Sushma Swaraj said that all it needed for Indians to be rescued from the war-torn country was for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to give Saudi King Salman a phone call.

Kerala Healthcare Workers Saved from Regions Under ISIS Rule: Sushma Swaraj, the foreign minister at the time, arranged for the repatriation of 46 nurses—most of whom were from Kerala—who had been stranded in Tikrit, Iraq, after the Islamic State began annexing large portions of Syria and Iraq, she achieved a tremendous diplomatic victory. After being forcibly removed to Mosul by Islamic State militants, 46 nurses were evacuated from Iraq. Prioritizing the nurses’ homecoming, the Indian government under the leadership of Narendra Modi—who had just taken office after winning a landslide victory in the 2014 elections—made sure that they were transported back to India. Together with their Iraqi colleagues, Indian authorities worked nonstop to return the nurses from Mosul to Erbil, then from Erbil to New Delhi, and finally to Kochi.

During the coronavirus outbreak, the Indian Navy carried out Operation Samudra Setu, saving at least 4,000 Indians who had been stranded at sea. In order to rescue trapped Indians in the sea, the Indian Naval ships Jalashwa, Airavat, Shardul, and Magar steamed more than 23,000 kilometers. 2020 saw the completion of the procedure.

Operation Vande Bharat Mission: During the Covid-19 outbreak, the largest-scale civilian evacuation effort was carried out by the government to return displaced Indians to their homes abroad. The Vande Bharat Mission and Air Bubble arrangements allowed for the facilitation of at least 2.97 crore Indians, both inbound and outbound, on flights. The procedure took place in the years 2020–2022.

Operation Devi Shakti: Following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, 669 individuals were evacuated from the country by a chartered aircraft from Kabul to New Delhi. From India, at least 448 Indians and 206 Afghans—including members of the minority Hindu/Sikh population in Afghanistan—were saved. A few old Hindu manuscripts and two Swaroops of the Guru Granth Sahib were brought by the members of the minority group.

Operation Ganga: In 2022, a month after the conflict in Ukraine broke out, the Indian government saved about 22,500 Indians. Of the ninety evacuation flights that the Indian government sent, fourteen were flown by the Indian Air Force. Due to Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, these citizens—the majority of whom were students—were forced to remain there.

Operation Kaveri: In the midst of fierce combat between the army and an opposing paramilitary group in Sudan in 2023, the Indian government managed to save almost 3,000 of its people. The mission, which began in April 2023, brought back Indians who had been enmeshed in the fighting in Sudan, as well as those from Khartoum and other far-off regions like Darfur.

Operation Homecoming: India launched “Operation Homecoming” to bring back Indian nationals who were left behind in the war-torn country of Libya. Fifteen thousand Indian citizens who were entangled in the 2011 domestic crisis in Libya were safely evacuated.

When hostilities broke out between Israel and Lebanon in July 2006, the Indian navy and air force launched one of the biggest marine rescue operations since the evacuation of “Dunkirk” during World War II, saving 2,280 lives. Operation Sukoon is another name for this operation.

Kuwait Airlift: During the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, the Indian government organized one of the biggest airlifts and evacuations ever to get Indians who were stuck there. Over 175,000 Indians were evacuated by the Indian air force, navy, and national carrier Air India. Because of its role in the operation, Air India holds the record for carrying out the greatest evacuation carried out by a commercial aircraft, placing it in the Guinness Book of World Records.