The curious stopover

It has to be counted as one of those rare coincidences. Iraq President Jalal Talabani visits Seoul,signs a 3.5-billion reconstruction deal and then heads straight from there for a visit to Iran to reach out to Mahmoud Ahmedinejad. But guess the place he chooses to take a breather on the way? Its Kolkata,where he makes a transit halt,albeit only for an hour or so. It was a technical stop for the long-haul flight,but it generated enough interest in official circles,with many wondering why the President of Iraq was headed for Iran. Flight plans were double-checked to ensure that the destination was indeed Tehran,just in case there were complications later.