By Bernama,
New Delhi : Amidst a wave of anti-Chinese protesters that kept Indian security on edge, India managed to stage the Olympic torch relay without any major incident this afternoon.
It was an edgy route for the Olympic torch as it landed on Indian soil last night, from Pakistan, as nervous Indian officials grappled to ensure the historic flame proceeded according to schedule without any fracas marring Sino-India relations.
Under a thick canopy of security personnel, numbering 20,000, a galaxy of sports and Bollywood personalities, altogether about 70, covered 2.3 km from the Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate — both political landmarks of the Indian capital.
Delhi staged a star-studded team for the relay with names like former track queen P.T. Usha and tennis player Leander Paes while Bollywood bigwigs — Saif Ali Khan and Aamir Khan took part in the event, that generated much publicity in the Indian media over the past weeks.
But the tight security arrangements shut out fans, who were kept at bay throughout the journey, while elsewhere in the city Tibetans continued their protests and at least 50 were detained.
India had to perform a delicate balancing act on Thursday — upholding its democratic principles by allowing Tibetan protesters, sticking to its diplomatic commitment and at the same time ensuring a smooth and safe passage of the torch relay — aimed at pleasing its neighbour Beijing.
Beijing-Delhi relation is soaring to new heights as both the Asian economic powerhouses are now reconciling for deeper relations to protect their larger interests — their bustling economies.
However, the Indian government had taken a soft stance towards the Tibetan community that had made India their adopted homeland for almost half a century.
Over 100,000 Tibetans have taken refuge in India after Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama and his followers fled China in 1959, to escape Chinese oppression and settled in Dharamsala — an adjacent Indian district of Tibet — now the fortress of Tibetan government in exile.
Earlier in the day, Indian televisions showed hundreds of Tibetans, largely red-robed monks, staging a peaceful parallel torch relay in Delhi to protest against Chinese human rights violations and held prayers with pro-Tibetan Indians.
After Delhi, the Olympic torch would move to Bangkok and later to Malaysia.
Beijing is hosting the 29th Olympic starting in August with the slogan “One World, One Dream”.