Washington, Jan. 7 -- The Indian Embassy in Washington used a lobbying firm helmed by former Trump aide Jason Miller to reach out to influential officials in the administration after the Pahalgam terror attacks and during Operation Sindoor, reveal disclosures made by the firm with the US Department of Justice. These officials include White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, Under Secretary of War Elbridge Colby and National Security Council official Ricky Gill. SHW Partners - which was hired in April last year to lobby for India - was paid $900,000 for its services over the last six months. The Indian embassy said it is a standard practice for foreign missions and business organisations in the US to hire the services of lobbyists and consultants to augment outreach. "The Indian Embassy has hired such firms, consistent with local practice and requirements, under successive governments since the 1950s," a spokesperson for the embassy said. According to these lobbying disclosures, SHW Partners contacted Under Secretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby on April 24 - days after the Pahalgam terrorist attack - in order to facilitate a request from the Indian Embassy for a meeting with Indian Ambassador Vinay Kwatra. The two men subsequently met on April 29. Once Operation Sindoor began in the early hours of May 7, SHW Partners pitched an interview with Kwatra to Brett Baier, a news anchor with Fox News, a conservative-leaning media outlet. On May 10, the lobbying firm also assisted India's outreach to US Trade Representative Greer, Wiles and White House Communications Director Steven Cheung with the stated purpose of discussing "media coverage of Operation Sindoor". In the aftermath of the four-day conflict between India and Pakistan, the firm also reached out to Andy Baker at the National Security Council to facilitate a meeting between a multiparty delegation of Indian lawmakers with US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. An outreach for the same purpose was also made to Virginia Hinzman, a US State Department official. According to its own disclosures, the firm also assisted with seeking meetings for the Indian multi-party delegation with Republican US Senator Tom Cotton. Subsequently in June, SHW Partners also contacted Wiles to "discuss media coverage of Operation Sindoor and status of US-India trade conversations". Besides this, the firm also reached out to various US departments in June in order to set up meetings between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and key US decision makers including Vice President Vance, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. Through July and August, the firm also helped with outreach to White House officials, the US Trade Representative and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to discuss US-India trade talks....