WASHINGTON: Two brief encounters and apparently warm handshakes between the Indian and Pakistani prime ministers seemed to have had a greater impact on the media than all the talks between 47 world leaders attending the two-day nuclear summit in the US capital.

From America’s Wall Street Journal to India’s The Hindu and the Pakistani television channels, all jumped with excitement as the two leaders were seen shaking hands with a leader-style smile.

And the third-power or Teesri Shakti — as US President Barack Obama was called by an Indian journalist — who caused them to extend their hands to each other also had a broad smile on his face as this non-event dominated television screens across the world.

This was “the meeting of hands which everyone seemed to be waiting for,” commented The Hindu as Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh reached out to each other.

The two prime ministers met at the Walter E. Washington convention centre in downtown Washington, venue of the Nuclear Security Summit.

The first gesture came at President Obama’s dinner on Monday when Prime Minister Gilani strode up to Dr Singh and the two men greeted each other warmly. They did the same on Tuesday morning.

The first ‘encounter’ lasted only two minutes and the second, five; although symbolically they had more significance than the long-winded speeches heard at such international conferences.

Imran Gardezi, a spokesman for the Pakistan Embassy in Washington, said the two exchanged pleasantries and expressed their desires to reduce tensions between the two neighbours.

Vishnu Prakash, spokesperson of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, said Dr Singh and Mr Gilani only “exchanged pleasantries”.

The Indians have been reluctant to hold formal talks with Pakistan in Washington, saying that it would send wrong signals to the audience in India.

They, however, seem more interested in a formal meeting between the two leaders in Bhutan later this month on the sidelines of a Saarc summit.The Pakistanis, on the other hand, are ready for talks at any venue. Prime Minister Gilani said earlier that “India-Pakistan relations should not be held hostage to one unfortunate incident”, the Mumbai terror attacks.

The handshake on Monday was the first encounter between the two leaders since their July 2009 interaction on the sidelines of a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement at Sharm el-Shaikh in Egypt.

Indian officials said the meeting in Bhutan would have more substance than Monday’s handshake, “warm and effusive though it appears to have been”.

Those present at Washington’s Convention Centre noted that on Monday evening, Prime Minister Gilani arrived 20 minutes before Mr Singh.

On seeing Mr Singh, he scooted over, greeted him with a firm handshake and then they spoke with each other for two minutes.

On Tuesday, the Indian prime minister took the lead in greeting Mr Gilani and the conversation continued for five minutes.