Dropping in on neighbours

Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal returns to Moscow later this month, this time for a meeting on the inter-governmental trade commission, soon after which he is off to Dhaka, for talks with his counterpart. After all the hoopla about illegal migration and anti-Indian insurgents operating out of Bangladesh earlier this year 8212; resulting in the visit of Bangladesh Foreign Minister Morshed Khan to Delhi 8212; the Dhaka story seems to have been swept firmly under the carpet. Considering that Commerce Secretaries from both sides have recently met and agreed to resolve tariff differences in a less rash and bloodthirsty manner, progress on the India-Bangla front may just be looking up.

Vajpayee: To go or not to go to Syria?

The possibility of PM Vajpayee rescheduling his visit to Syria 8212; apart from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan 8212; sometime later in the autumn seems to already have got New Delhi8217;s foreign policy elite into a blue funk. For a trip whose schedule is still many, many moons away, New Delhi8217;s nervousness seems extraordinary.

Still, it all seems to have been brought on by a visit by Secretary in the MEA, R.M. Abhyankar, to Amman, Damascus 8212; where he meets Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk el-Shara 8212; and Ankara in about ten days8217; time.

According to the anti-Syrian camp, PM Vajpayee should not be visiting a country which has just been warned by US Defence Secretary Donald 8216;8216;Rummy8217;8217; Rumsfeld as having aided Iraq in the supply of night-vision goggles during the war.

We must take Rummy8217;s word for it, of course, and who dare argue against Rummy in these exceptionally Biblical times Rumsfeld 8216;8216;knew8217;8217; that there were WMD in Iraq, he 8216;8216;knew8217;8217; that Saddam Hussein had links to terrorist outfits like al-Qaeda8230;.

Anyway, these naysayers argue that Syria is more than likely to be next on the US hit-list, and why should New Delhi expose its moralist flanks, anyway? What did it, for example, gain from a Parliamentary resolution that 8216;8216;deplored8217;8217; US action in Iraq, especially when the US was winning the war the exact same day?

Then there8217;s the pro-Syrian view in South Block, which simply shrugs its shoulders and wants to know whether India8217;s foreign policy should be conducted on the banks of the Potomac. How sensitive is Washington to India8217;s interests, on Pakistan for example, this group wants to know? Moreover, the charms of Syria, even if it8217;s run by a minority Alawite leader, seem considerable in this election year. There8217;s Palmyra, Petra8230;

The 8216;Gods8217; don8217;t impress Chandrika

Infamous for her belief in the continuum of time, Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga obviously made a huge effort last week to keep her appointments with the Indian leadership 8212; last time around, Home Minister L.K. Advani had walked out from Rashtrapati Bhavan where he had waited interminably to see her 8212; even as she explained to them the fundamentals and the nuances of the peace process.

Still, she couldn8217;t help lapsing back to form on one occasion, when she kept a dinner table with Delhi8217;s elite waiting till an uncool 11 pm. All those who attended said it was worth the wait.

Meanwhile, Kumaratunga is also believed to have found time to meet a few gurus during her Indian sojourn.

It all started at the beginning of her trip, when she flew from Bangalore to Puttaparthi to meet Sathya Sai Baba, having been persuaded to do so by none other than her once-estranged brother Anura Bandaranaike they came together after their mother8217;s death and her close friend and Sri Lanka8217;s former foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar. Evidently, both men pointed out that since Chandrika8217;s stars were not right till April 17, and that she had to stay out of the country till then, it would help to meet elevated people of a different kind.

Still, Kumaratunga is said to have confessed to a friend that she once 8216;8216;saw8217;8217; Sathya Sai Baba 8216;8216;remove8217;8217; ash and rings and other such godly appurtenances from behind his back. Her scepticism, about politics at home and Gods abroad, continue to arouse admiration in her friends.

8216;Rummy8217; uncrowns 8216;Rani8217; Raphel

This diary reported a couple of weeks ago that Robin Raphel, once the US pointperson on South Asia that New Delhi loved to hate, was all set to be reincarnated as the new 8216;8216;Rani8217;8217; of Mesopotamia, also known as Iraq. Although with the National Museum in Baghdad looted with the apparent connivance of US forces, that distinction looks hazier than ever.

Turns out that Raphel8217;s appointment has been struck off by none other than Rumsfeld8217;s Pentagon. Perhaps she8217;s too ideologically driven even for them, perhaps she8217;s just not their type. Whatever the real reason, Raphel must wait for another day.