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India has sent an officer to Libya to set up the Indian Embassy in Tripoli, and it will soon become fully functional, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday.
MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal further said that following the setting up of the embassy, all New Delhi and Tripoli will work to enhance and expand cooperation. "First officer has been sent to Tripoli, Libya...he has to set up the embassy. In some sense, it is functional now, but not fully functional. Soon you'll have all the activities beginning in Libya. Thereafter, we will try to enhance and expand our cooperation," Jaiswal said at the weekly press briefing on Thursday. MEA also gave an update on the eighth Indian naval officer, who is still in Qatar, and said he has certain requirements to complete, following which he will come back. "He has certain requirements. Therefore, for that reason, he is in that country. He is staying there, and as and when, he is able to meet those requirements, he will travel back home," Jaiswal said. Notably, all eight Indian naval veterans imprisoned in Qatar were released by the Qatari authorities in February, this year. Seven out of them also returned to India. The eight Indian nationals were accused of spying on a submarine programme. The retired naval personnel were sentenced to death by a Qatari court. Later, the death sentences were commuted. Being asked about Nikhil Gupta -- an Indian national accused in a foiled assassination plot in US -- MEA confirmed that India has not received any request for granting consular access to him. "On Nikhil Gupta case, we don't have an update...he hasn't sought consular access as of now," the MEA spokesperson said. Nikhil Gupta was extradited to face legal proceedings in the US. He is suspected by the US of involvement in an unsuccessful plot to kill the India-designated pro-Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on American soil. Gupta pleaded not guilty at a federal court in the US. New Delhi has firmly dissociated itself from the plot against Pannun, saying it is against the Indian government's policy. It has said it would formally investigate security concerns raised by Washington. (ANI)
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