India, Feb. 19 -- Smaller in size than the state of Nagaland in north-east India, Qatar stands for its outsized influence even in the Arabian peninsula. It has one of the highest GDP per capita in the world and is often the stage at which regional geopolitics plays out. For much of the region's history, the littoral between Kuwait and Qatar was known as Bahrain while Qatar was one of its dependent tribal chiefdoms. The present state of Qatar ruled by the House of Thani emerged in the 19th century with the backing of the British government, which was keen to secure its trade routes.

While presently nearly all the Gulf states including Qatar have oil as their chief export and mainstay of the economy, less than 100 years ago it was the pear...