Indian envoy Kwatra meets US Intelligence Chief Gabbard; discusses matters of mutual interest

Washington DC [US], August 3 : Indian Ambassador Vinay Mohan Kwatra on Sunday met with US Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard and held an "engaging conversation" on various issues of mutual interest.

"Pleasure to meet DNI Tulsi Gabbard and her husband, Abraham Williams; we had an engaging conversation on various issues of mutual interest," Ambassador Kwatra stated in a post on X, while expressing his pleasure at the meeting.

Earlier on Saturday, New Delhi had opened eight more Indian Consular Application Centres (ICACs) in the US Boston, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Edison, Orlando, Raleigh, and San Jose , bringing the total number of centres to 16 in America. A 17th centre is also planned to open in Los Angeles later this month.

Speaking on the occasion, Ambassador Kwatra expressed his delight over the announcement, noting that at the heart of the India-US partnership lie people-to-people ties.

"We are very happy to announce the opening of 8 new Indian Consular Application Centres... We firmly believe that people-to-people ties are the heart of the India-US partnership," said India's Ambassador to the United States.

The expansion, announced jointly by the Indian Mission and VFS Global, aims to make essential services more accessible to Indian Americans and other applicants seeking India-related documentation.

The centres will handle a comprehensive range of services, including India visa applications, overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) applications, Indian passport services, renunciation of Indian citizenship, police clearance certificates, Global Entry Programme applications and Document attestation services.

To improve accessibility, the new centres will operate on Saturdays and include return courier services in standard fees. Additional services such as photographs, photocopies, and form assistance will be provided at no extra charge.

Meanwhile, Tulsi Gabbard earlier in July called for a trial of the Obama administration over claims of Russian influence in Trump's US Presidential win in 2016, alleging a "treasonous conspiracy" to undermine the election outcome through politicised intelligence.

Gabbard, in a statement, accused former US President Barack Obama and senior officials in his office, including former DNI James Clapper, CIA Director John Brennan, FBI Director James Comey, and others, of manufacturing intelligence to falsely implicate Russia in influencing the 2016 election in favour of Donald Trump.

The Office of the DNI (ODNI) released a 114-page document detailing evidence that, prior to the November 2016 election, the Intelligence Community (IC) consistently assessed that Russia was "probably not trying ... to influence the election by using cyber means."

It further noted that on December 8, 2016, a draft of the President's Daily Brief (PDB) stated that Russia "did not impact recent US election results" by conducting malicious cyber activities against US election infrastructure.

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