The invitation for tea extended to the leaders of the All-Party HurriyatConference by the Pakistan High Commissioner, Mr. Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, hasgenerated a heated debate. Should he have invited them for tea? Has he, in anyway, transgressed the diplomatic etiquette by doing so? Or, is the Indianpolitical elite flirting with norms of diplomacy by making prescriptive demandsin the invitation list? The breach of de rigueur may be a topic of speculationfor students of diplomacy, but students of politics would be more intriguedabout the intricacies of the political cost and benefit analysis behind thenotorious invitation.