Torch tours Pakistan, security tight

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The Olympic torch relay passed through the Pakistani capital on Wednesday on the first leg of its Asian tour amid security worries as Australia braced for clashes between pro-Tibet supporters and Chinese students.

The torch has been beset by protests through Europe and the Americas, mostly over a Chinese crackdown in Tibet. It arrived in the Pakistani capital 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 motor-bikes, Pakistani and Chinese torch bearers ran a 2-km (1-mile) 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.

PROTESTS PLANNED

In San Francisco, London and Paris demonstrators tried to disrupt the torch to protest against China's treatment of Tibetans during a recent crackdown.

In some places, protesters tried to snuff out the flame and organizers extinguished or hid the torch to keep it safe.

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 spiritual 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.

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.

Pro-Tibet demonstrators expect at least 1,000 people to travel to the capital in a bid to interrupt the torch's path past major national buildings, including the parliament.

Lawmakers in the Australian capital have already cut back the route and on Wednesday approved special powers for police to stop and search protesters.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd this week ruled out a security role for Chinese paramilitary guards who have run beside the torch in blue tracksuits during clashes in Europe and the United States.

Zhang's Web site called for 150 "strong and energetic runners" to help guard the flame in Australia against Tibetan "splittists".

A student message referred to anti-China protesters as "ethnic degenerate scum or anti-Chinese running dogs".

(Additional reporting by Rob Taylor in Canberra; Writing by Zeeshan Haider; Editing by Robert Birsel and Jeremy Laurence)

("Countdown to Beijing Olympics" blog at

blogs.reuters.com/china)