Qatar, the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and a part of Middle East which was largely free from war and political turmoil in the recent years, was hit by one of the major crises in recent times.
On 5 June 2017, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain and Egypt cut down all political, economic and diplomatic links with Qatar. Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain gave Qatari citizens 14 days to leave their territory and banned their own citizens from travelling to or residing in Qatar. Later land, air and water links were closed.
However, Kuwait and Oman – the other two Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states – did not join them.
List of Demands Issued to Qatar
The reasons stated for this boycott by Saudi-led states were Qatar’s support to funding, supporting and fostering of terrorism by backing Hezbollah and Hamas for years, in addition to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt which is responsible for instability in the region.
However, the real reason is Qatar’s relations with Shiite Iran, and Iran being Sunni Saudi’s main rival in the region.
Regional instability, fear about the role of Iran and regional influence of the Muslim Brotherhood led to a crisis whose solution seems impossible in the coming few months.
Qatar on the other hand denied supporting Islamic extremism and has widely condemned the isolation as an attack on its autonomy. Saudi-led countries issued a 13-point list of demands for Qatar to comply with in order to restore relations.
Some of these demands are:
- to curb diplomatic ties with Iran;
- sever all ties with ‘terrorist organisations’;
- hand over ‘terrorist figures’;
- stop all funding to individuals or organisations designated as terrorists by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, Bahrain, the United States and other countries;
- fundamental change and restructuring of Al Jazeera rather than to shut it and other Qatar-funded news outlets;
- close a Turkish military base and halt joint military co-operation inside Qatar;
- end interference in other sovereign countries’ internal affairs
Qatar rejected these demands.
Devolving Relations
Before the crisis, Qatar used to import at least 80 percent of its food supplies from its Arab neighbours as it is dependent on imports by land and sea for the basic needs of its population. Qatar is now supported by Iran, Morocco and Turkey for food supplies.
Qatar has launched five new shipping routes to circumvent the trade blockade: Two to India, two to Oman, and one to Turkey.
Mediation by the United States, Kuwait and Germany has failed to resolve the feud.
In fact the friction between the two sides has become worse due to the meeting between a minor Qatari royal, Sheikh Abdullah al-Thani (whose family was ousted in the 1972 Royal coup) and King Salman in Morocco.
This meeting can be seen as a challenge and provocation to the ruling Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani’s power. Further, Riyadh credited Sheikh Abdullah bin Ali Al Thani of playing an important role due to which Qatari pilgrims will attend Hajj this month. However, Sheikh Abdullah has no role to play in the government in Qatar.
Later, King Salman ordered the re-opening of the Salwa land border crossing, offered to pay for Qataris flying from Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province airports to Jeddah or Medina or flying from Qatar on Saudi Arabian Airlines, and waived electronic permits for Qatari pilgrims.
How Doha Enraged its Gulf Neighbours
However, problems arose when Saudi Arabia accused Qatar of blocking its planes from landing in Doha, a charge which Doha declined. Both the sides are blaming each other for ‘politicising’ the Haj.
Amid this, Qatar decided to restore full diplomatic relations with Iran by sending its ambassador to Tehran. Qatar’s foreign ministry announced the strengthening of bilateral relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran in all fields.
Doha and Tehran share the world’s largest gas fields, the source of Qatar’s vast wealth. Throughout the crisis, Tehran has supported Doha, providing food items and other essential supplies, and allowed a stream of Qatari airplanes to cross its airspace.
This move by Doha has further infuriated its gulf neighbours.
Saudi-led states thought that cutting ties with Qatar will weaken it and eventually its relation with Iran will also decline. However, the crisis has only strengthened the relation between Doha and Tehran.
Qatar at this crucial time has changed its laws to attract investors and workers.
Foreigners constitute 88 percent of Qatar’s population and play a crucial role in running its economy.
Doha is issuing permanent residency cards to some foreign residents who have “given service to Qatar” or have “skills that can benefit the country.”
Also, out of a total population of 2.7 million, an estimated 1.9 million people in Qatar are low-skilled workers who work in construction and other such jobs. The government has a new law which will provide legal protection to domestic workers such as maids, nannies, cleaners, drivers, cooks, gardeners etc.
A New Domestic Employment Law
The domestic employment law states that staff can now limit their services to 10 hours a day, work six days a week and be entitled to an annual holiday of three weeks.
When their contracts end, workers will also receive end-of-service benefits equating to a minimum of three weeks’ wages for each year of service.
This is an important step, as it will help numerous workers who suffer ill treatment like physical abuse, snatching of passports, withheld wages and harsh working conditions at times leading to 16-17 hours of daily work, among others.
India has ensured that the diplomatic and economic stand-off between the Gulf countries does not impact the Indian workers.
Qatar is home to 6,30,000 expatriate Indians, with most being blue collar workers at construction sites.
Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani visited New Delhi on 25 August for bilateral talks. He assured External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj about the welfare of the Indian workers.
India has a limited role to play in the crisis. Though both Qatar and Saudi Arabia are strategically important to India from the point of view of oil, natural gas, trade, remittance and investment, India is not in a position either to mediate or support one party to the conflict like Turkey.
Throughout the crisis, India has continued to stick to its traditional policy of non-interference in internal affairs, as External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj calls it, a “hands off approach” to the conflict zone.
(The author is an assistant professor at Amity University, Noida and tweets @j_teckchandani. The opinions expressed are the author’s own and The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)
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