- India asked firm to approach White House officials, NSC.
- Top US officials contacted on day of Pak-India ceasefire.
- Firm says meetings focused on conflict’s media coverage.
India reportedly hired a lobbying firm to arrange Foreign Minister S Jaishankar’s meetings with top US officials during the May conflict with Pakistan last year.
The four-day war in May 2025 began after India’s unprovoked attack on Pakistan, during which Pakistan downed six Indian fighter jets, including three Rafales, and dozens of drones. The conflict ended on May 10 with a US-brokered ceasefire.
Indian news outlet, The Hindu, has now revealed that the Indian Embassy in Washington hired a lobbying firm led by Jason Miller, a former spokesperson of US President Donald Trump, during the same period.
Citing the US Department of Justice’s (DoJ) Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) website, the outlet reported that the lobbying firm, SHW LLC, was asked to schedule meetings for Jaishankar, the Indian foreign secretary and the Indian ambassador with US Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, and CIA chief John Ratcliffe.
According to the firm’s filing, it also reached out to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, and Ricky Gill at the National Security Council on May 10, 2025.
The meetings, it said, were aimed at discussing “media coverage” of the conflict between India and Pakistan.
The revelations about India’s efforts to engage senior US officials during the conflict contrast with the Narendra Modi government’s repeated denials of any US role in mediating a ceasefire between the two nuclear-armed nations.
Trump has maintained said he brokered the ceasefire between India and Pakistan. Islamabad, while thanking the US president for his role in ending the hostilities, has stressed that it never approached a third party to negotiate with New Delhi.
According to the report, hiring the firm to arrange meetings or calls between Indian and US officials during the May conflict was a first for India.
The firm also charged the Indian embassy for making requests for Shashi Tharoor, who led an Indian delegation to the US, to meet the US vice president and other officials.
SHW reported that it also sent emails requesting meetings for Jaishankar with Vance, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, and CIA chief John Ratcliffe during his visit to Washington in June 2025, a month after the Pakistan-India standoff.
