ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI, 17 April 2008 — The much-awaited Olympic torch relay passed through the Pakistani capital yesterday amid unprecedented security on the first leg of its Asian tour.
The torch has been beset by protests through Europe and the Americas, mostly over a Chinese crackdown in Tibet. Australia also braced for clashes between pro-Tibet supporters and Chinese students.
It arrived in Islamabad amid heightened security even though officials said there had been no specific threat.
Thousands of police and paramilitary soldiers were deployed in and around Islamabad’s Jinnah Stadium. Authorities had planned to hold the relay on the city’s main boulevard but switched the event to the stadium for security reasons.
Officials did not expect any anti-Chinese protests as there is no Tibetan community in the country but Pakistan has been hit by a wave of suicide attacks and bombings by Islamist militants.
China is a close ally and the main source of arms to Pakistan and President Pervez Musharraf told the torch ceremony the people of China were Pakistan’s closest friends.
“We stand with you and support you in this glorious event that you host for the entire world,” Musharraf said, referring to the Beijing Olympics this August.
Riding a horse-drawn carriage, three Chinese athletes brought a lantern into the stadium to light the flame to the cheers of thousands of children waving Pakistani and Chinese flags.
Musharraf and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani held the burning torch before handing it to Pakistani Olympian Sami Ullah.
Flanked by soldiers in sports kit and police on motorbikes, Pakistani and Chinese torch-bearers ran a 2-km route inside the stadium.
Pakistani squash great, Jahangir Khan, who won a world record 10 British Open titles and is a six-time world champion, lit a cauldron at the end of the relay.
“Squash has never been in the Olympics and it was my dream to play in the Olympic Games but that never happened. But today I felt I was doing the finishing line here,” he said.
Roads around the stadium were blocked and only people with invitations were allowed in.
The images of pro-Tibet protesters attacking the torch have prompted an outpouring of anger among Chinese nationals and ethnic Chinese globally.
Australian police received tough powers to search torch relay protesters for weapons, as China supporters called for strong men to guard the flame against pro-Tibetans during its stopover in Canberra next week.
India, where the torch will head after Islamabad, has trimmed the route of its relay, fearing Tibetan protesters might try to disrupt it.
Tibet’s exiled leader, the Dalai Lama, and the Tibetan government-in-exile are based in northern India and the country has had dozens of anti-China protests since last month’s riots in Tibet and other regions.
Thousands of Indian police prepared to lock down the heart of New Delhi as Tibetan activists ramped up protests ahead of what will be a short, heavily guarded leg of the Olympic torch relay today.
Indian sports officials yesterday were tight-lipped about details of the torch’s arrival and its itinerary hours before the Olympic flame was set to be flown in from neighboring Pakistan.
Officials refused to even specify when the relay would begin amid fears that protesters, who are using the relay to demonstrate against China’s human rights record and its rule in Tibet, would disrupt the run.
“It’s in the afternoon,” Suresh Kalmadi, head of the Indian Olympic Association, told reporters at a press conference to announce the names of 70 sports figures, entertainers and others participating in the run. He also refused to say exactly when the flame would arrive.
“It is reaching Delhi after it leaves Islamabad,” he said. “It will be past midnight.” But Kalmadi insisted today’s run — one of the most sensitive stretches of its global voyage — would be a success.
“It will go very well; I have no doubt about that,” he said. “We shall give a great torch relay.” Bollywood actors Aamir Khan and Saif Ali Khan, tennis player Leander Paes and officials from China’s embassy in New Delhi were slated to run in the relay, which had earlier been shortened from nine kilometers (six miles) to three kilometers for security reasons.
Tibetan leaders in India said they were preparing to protest in spite of heavy security. Police detained about 50 Tibetans protesting in front of the Chinese embassy in New Delhi.
In Australia, Zhang Rongan, of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association, said he hoped 10,000 students and Chinese Australians would travel to Canberra for the April 24 torch relay to guard against demonstrators.
