New Delhi: Congress MP Manish Tewari has said that had the Government of India taken the issue of the death penalty handed down to eight former Indian Navy officers in Qatar seriously, the situation would not have become so grim.Tewari on Friday, October 27, shared on X (Twitter) the letter external affairs minister S. Jaishankar had written to him in response to his speech in Lok Sabha (on December 7, 20220), highlighting the incarceration of former naval officers in Qatar.“Had Dr. Jaishankar or the Ministry of External Affairs been serious then things would never have come to this pass that the 8 Navy men would have been sentenced to death for an alleged offence whose details are still unknown. The NDA/BJP government for all its muscular nationalism has completely failed to protect the dignity, honour, and lives of our ex-Servicemen,” he slammed the government.This is the letter👇🏾 that @DrSJaishankar wrote to me in response to my raising the illegal incarceration of our 08 retired Naval Personnel in Doha – Qatar on December 7 th 2022 in the Lok Sabha.Had @DrSJaishankar or @MEAIndia been serious then things would never have come to… pic.twitter.com/C2fUNlSKDo— Manish Tewari (@ManishTewari) October 27, 2023With things coming to such a pass, he said more than legal intervention, diplomatic intervention at the highest level – by Prime Minister Narendra Modi – is required to remedy the situation. He also goes on to say, “A fog of opacity surrounds this incident. It is incumbent for the Indian government to put out all facts in the public domain.”Senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid expressed his sadness over the development and called for diplomatic measures. “We cannot say anything until everything will come in front… I can express sadness for what has happened… It is not possible for us to accept that the personnel have done anything due to which they are getting punished…When there are relations between two countries, diplomatic ways can be created…This is an important thing for us because the message goes to the whole world,” Khurshid said, according to The Times of India.Eight former Indian Navy officers, who had been detained in Qatar for over a year, were handed the death penalty on Thursday, October 26. The men were working for a private firm, Dahra Global Technologies and Consultancy Services, which provided training and related services to Qatar’s armed forces. They were detained without charges in August 2022. Media reports say they had been charged with espionage. Their bail pleas were rejected multiple times.The verdict was passed on Thursday by the Court of First Instance of Qatar. The eight men are Captain Navtej Singh Gill, Captain Birendra Kumar Verma, Captain Saurabh Vasisht, Commodore Amit Nagpal, Commodore Purnendu Tiwari, Commodore Sugunakar Pakala, Commodore Sanjeev Gupta, and Sailor Ragesh.“We are deeply shocked by the verdict of the death penalty and are awaiting the detailed judgement. We are in touch with the family members and the legal team, and we are exploring all legal options. We attach high importance to this case and have been following it closely. We will continue to extend all consular and legal assistance. We will also take up the verdict with Qatari authorities,” the statement by the MEA read.