By IRNA,
Islamabad : Torchbearers ran with the torch during the Olympics Torch Relay in the Pakistani capital Islamabad on Wednesday inside a heavily-guarded sports stadium.
Hundreds of Pakistani and Chinese nationals, who work in Pakistan as well as women and school children with flags of both countries, attended the ceremony at Jinnah Sports Complex.
Pakistan is the 10th stop of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games torch relay outside China.
Hundreds of police and paramilitary soldiers were deployed around the sports complex and helicopters were flying over as part of tight security.
The torch relay was confided only to the sports complex due to security concerns, President of Pakistan Olympic Association, Lt. Gen. (r) Syed Arif Hasan has said.
It was planned earlier that the torch will take round two kilometers on road outside the complex.
President Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, ministers, diplomats and senior officials from both the countries watched the Torch Relay.
The torch was given first to the President and The Prime Minister who jointly held the torch fire few minutes as local music was playing.
Samiullah, the former Olympian in hockey was the first to run with the torch, Samiullalh was known as the flying horse. The Chinese ambassador to Pakistan was the second runner and Shabana Akhtar, the first Pakistani woman Olympian who represented Pakistani in the Olympics at Atlanta 1996.
Pakistan army band performed and national anthems of Pakistan and China were played soon after the arrival of President Musharraf and the Prime Minister in tight security.
The ceremony was kicked off at 4:35 p.m. local time with recitation from the Holy Quran.
The torch was handed over briefly to the President and the Prime Minister by a Chinese and was later taken to the main dice.
President of Pakistan Olympic Association, Lt. Gen. (r) Syed Arif Hasan told the ceremony that it is a great honor for Pakistan and Islamabad to be selected among 22 venues.
“The Relay will further deepen our friendship,” he said.
The Chairman of the Capital Development Authority Kamran Lashari speaking at the ceremony welcomed members of the Beijing Olympics torch relay.
“We are proud to be among the nations to receive the Olympics torch,” Lashari said.
The Olympic torch arrived in Islamabad in the early hours of Wednesday from Muscat and it will proceed to New Delhi.
Pakistan is the first destination of the torch relay in Asia.
The sports complex was decorated with welcoming banners, flags of Pakistan, China and Olympics.
After the ceremony, Hasan Sardar or Jehangir Khan, took the torch and became the first one among the 65 torch bearers.