By Smita Prakash
Washington, Apr.13 (ANI): Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had a busy day Monday at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington D.C.
He had long meetings with the heads of government of Morroco, Kazhakstan and Canada. But, at the end of the day, what grabbed attention of the Indian and Pakistani media delegations was his under a minute handshake with the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Yusuf Raza Gilani.
There was flurry in the Indian media newsroom as the only picture of the meeting available was a still picture taken by the official photographer to the Prime Minister, who accompanies the PM on all official occasions. There is no video of the meet. But wait could it be termed a meeting, a call on or a pull aside. It was none of these said the Indian foreign office spokesman.
The official line is that at the inaugural, after the joint photo opportunity of the 47 heads of state, the VIP’s mingled with each other. Then, the Pakistani Prime Minister moved forward to greet Dr. Manmohan Singh. The two shook hands and exchanged pleasantries. Nothing more happened. And, it wasn’t scripted, nor facilitated.
But the truth is that nothing is ever unscripted or spontaneous when Indian and Pakistani heads of government are in the room. Whether it was the awkward handshake between a pushy Gen.Musharraf and A.B.Vajpayee in Kathmandu, or the effusive hug between Vajpayee again and the portly Zafarullah Jamali (the PM that Pakistan has forgotten), and then again the Sharm-el-Sheikh encounter between Gilani and Singh, nothing is spontaneous. And the impact is felt for months and years to come. (ANI)
