Three much for Mansingh

When shall we meet again/In thunder, lightning or in rain.... Macbeth8217;s magnificent opening lines are hopefully more than about the dar...

When shall we meet again/In thunder, lightning or in rain8230;. Macbeth8217;s magnificent opening lines are hopefully more than about the dark side of the moon, in this case personified by the three witches.

Many would describe them as a creative sisterhood, a sort of triumvirate, perhaps an earlier-day Three Musketeers. Which is what, if Washington8217;s gossipy insiders would have us believe, may perfectly describe the trinity of Maleeha Lodhi, Pakistan8217;s just-returned ambassador from the US, Christina Rocca, the very powerful US pointperson for South Asia, and Nancy Powell, the current US ambassador to Islamabad. Seems the threesome hung out together all the time8212;or at least used to, before Maleeha returned home recently8212;three women with minds of their own, giving the usually male preserve of high policy a terrific run for its money.

So much so, whispers from Massachusets Avenue contend for the uninitiated, that8217;s where India8217;s mission is located, Ms Lodhi was beginning to wield undue influence on the policies of Christina8217;s South Asia. And in the newspaper of the Beltway Underground, this is how the well-known ditty went: 8216;8216;Poor Lalit Mansingh of India/ He simply has no idea/ How the devil to deal with the troika/ Of Maleeha, Powell and Rocca!

But before Mansingh can begin his sigh of relief at the exit of Lodhi, the news is that Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, Pakistan8217;s very suave and recent high commissioner to India, will take over from Lodhi on August 16. And when the hurly burly8217;s done, Lodhi and Nancy Powell8212;and Rocca when she swings by8212;will meet again on home ground in Islamabad.

This track II leads to Pak

So what if New Delhi feels that Track II dialogue talks/seminars/discussions between influential non-officials with Pakistan doesn8217;t make sense. So what with official Track I tension between India and Pakistan still very high and any possibility of talks deadlocked over General Musharraf8217;s refusal to rein in cross-border infiltration.

Islamabad has just given visas to two journalists and one writer/activist/film-maker8212;called Arundhati Roy8212;to attend the festivities around the newspaper The Daily Times, launched a couple of months ago in Lahore.

The daily is a new addition to Najam Sethi8217;s media stable, made famous by the irreverent The Friday Times weekly, and already has a fan following in print and on the net. Track II , or its variant, just got a powerful boost.

The 15- high jump

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The inimitable Uma Bharati might want to bid for the Olympics in about a decade or so. But her miserly Sports ministry allocated a shockingly low 20 daily allowance to the Indian squad at the Manchester Commonwealth Games.

Upon hearing the news of their magnificent gold haul, the ministry has grudgingly done one shade higher: increased the daily allowance from 20 to 35.