Pakistan's leg of the Olympic torch relay passed off peacefully behind closed doors and amid heavy security Wednesday, as Australia and India braced for anti-China protests when the flame reaches them.
Thousands of troops and police guarded the ceremony at a sports stadium in Islamabad after organisers slashed the planned route to ward off pro-Tibet demonstrations and the threat of militant attacks.
The security on the torch's first stop in Asia before August's Beijing Games came as Pakistan tries to protect China, its closest ally, from further embarrassment after protesters disrupted the early legs of the world-wide tour.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani put aside their political differences and grimly held the torch together after it was lit.
Youngsters waved Pakistani flags and cheered as the flame was brought into the stadium on a traditional horse-driven chariot. The army band played to herald the arrival of the torch.
"It is an honour for us, all Pakistanis, to be an intrinsic part of this tremendous journey and to host the Olympic torch," Musharraf said at a ceremony after the end of the relay. Former squash star Jahangir Khan completed the relay, which involved around 60 people running, laps around the stadium.
The original plan was to parade the torch along Islamabad's leafy main boulevard, but the plans were changed at the last minute amid security concerns caused by a wave of suicide bombings in Pakistan.
Musharraf and Gilani arrived in a fleet of bullet-proof Mercedes limousines, flanked by Landcruisers with roof-mounted guns. Armed bodyguards in suits stood alert while army helicopters flew overhead. Army contingents, paramilitary troops and elite police commandos guarded the flame as it arrived at Jinnah Stadium.
Pakistan and China are close political, military and commercial allies. But two militant attacks here last year targeted Chinese workers. China's hopes of winning international prestige by sending the Olympic torch through 135 cities across five continents ahead of the August 8 opening of the Olympic Games have already been severely dented.
The early stages in London and Paris were overshadowed by demonstrations against Beijing's crackdown on protests in Tibet and the third stage in San Francisco was also drastically curtailed and seen by relatively few people.
Officials said Wednesday that Australian police had been give extra powers to ensure there is no violence when the torch goes there, while the southern Chinese territory of Hong Kong announced it was changing its torch route The legs in Buenos Aires, Dares Salaam and Muscat, the stop before Islamabad, passed off with little incident.
The torch next moves on to the Indian capital New Delhi for what will be a short, heavily guarded leg. Thousands of Indian police prepared to seal off the heart of New Delhi on Wednesday as Tibetan activists ramped up protests. India is home to more than 100,000 Tibetan refugees, many of them organised and media savvy.
Police on Wednesday manned yellow barricades leading to India Gate, the monument to slain Indian soldiers and the end point of the truncated torch run, which has been shortened from nine kilometres (six miles) to three kilometres.
Thousands of Chinese supporters are planning to welcome the Olympic flame to the Australian capital Canberra on April 23-24, raising concerns over potential clashes with Tibetan groups.
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