India will impose intense security on its capital when the Olympic torch passes through later this month, police said Thursday as concerns mounted over anti-China protests by Tibetans.
The Indian Olympic Association has invited several of the country's top athletes and actors to carry the torch in the April 17 flame run through New Delhi.
All participants will be issued special identification cards and spectators will be kept at a "proper distance and frisked," said Rajan Bhagat, the main spokesman for the Delhi Police.
There are concerns that Tibetan exiles in India may use the occasion to highlight their opposition to Chinese rule in Tibet and protest against Beijing's crackdown on anti-China protests in the region.
"The final details are being worked out but I can tell you that we will be making elaborate security arrangements," Bhagat told The Associated Press.
"The route has been shortened and the details of it will be made known on a later date," the Indian Olympic Association Secretary General Randhir Singh told the Press Trust of India news agency.
Officials at the association were not immediately available to confirm Singh's comments.
Tibetan groups in India have held largely peaceful marches and rallies throughout the country since protests began in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa on March 10, the anniversary of a failed uprising against Chinese rule nearly half a century ago. More than a dozen Tibetan exiles scaled the walls of the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi on March 21.
The northern Indian city of Dharmsala is home to the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, and to the Tibetan government-in-exile. India has repeatedly said it will not allow any actions that embarrass China.
Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee told Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi by telephone that the "government of India will take the necessary measures to ensure that the passage of the Olympic Torch is a success," Mukherjee's ministry said in a statement.
Mukherjee also reiterated the Indian government's position that Tibet is part of China's territory and that the government "does not allow Tibetans to engage in anti-China political activities in India," the statement said.
Frustration with Chinese rule boiled over on March 14, when the previously peaceful anti-Chinese protests in Lhasa turned ugly and Tibetans attacked ethnic Han Chinese. The Han are the majority in China and have been encouraged by Beijing to settle in Tibet. Tibetans in other parts of China have also protested, along with their compatriots in India and Nepal.
The Chinese government says 22 people died in the violence, while Tibetan exiles say the protests and a harsh crackdown afterward left nearly 140 people dead. In USA, now Burmese activists and Tibetan Rights Groups are deeply stroming against campaign to China Olympic because of countinuous abuses of Chinese government in China and international regions,Dafur, Burma and other Africa regions.
The Indian Olympic Association has invited several of the country's top athletes and actors to carry the torch in the April 17 flame run through New Delhi.
All participants will be issued special identification cards and spectators will be kept at a "proper distance and frisked," said Rajan Bhagat, the main spokesman for the Delhi Police.
There are concerns that Tibetan exiles in India may use the occasion to highlight their opposition to Chinese rule in Tibet and protest against Beijing's crackdown on anti-China protests in the region.
"The final details are being worked out but I can tell you that we will be making elaborate security arrangements," Bhagat told The Associated Press.
"The route has been shortened and the details of it will be made known on a later date," the Indian Olympic Association Secretary General Randhir Singh told the Press Trust of India news agency.
Officials at the association were not immediately available to confirm Singh's comments.
Tibetan groups in India have held largely peaceful marches and rallies throughout the country since protests began in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa on March 10, the anniversary of a failed uprising against Chinese rule nearly half a century ago. More than a dozen Tibetan exiles scaled the walls of the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi on March 21.
The northern Indian city of Dharmsala is home to the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, and to the Tibetan government-in-exile. India has repeatedly said it will not allow any actions that embarrass China.
Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee told Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi by telephone that the "government of India will take the necessary measures to ensure that the passage of the Olympic Torch is a success," Mukherjee's ministry said in a statement.
Mukherjee also reiterated the Indian government's position that Tibet is part of China's territory and that the government "does not allow Tibetans to engage in anti-China political activities in India," the statement said.
Frustration with Chinese rule boiled over on March 14, when the previously peaceful anti-Chinese protests in Lhasa turned ugly and Tibetans attacked ethnic Han Chinese. The Han are the majority in China and have been encouraged by Beijing to settle in Tibet. Tibetans in other parts of China have also protested, along with their compatriots in India and Nepal.
The Chinese government says 22 people died in the violence, while Tibetan exiles say the protests and a harsh crackdown afterward left nearly 140 people dead. In USA, now Burmese activists and Tibetan Rights Groups are deeply stroming against campaign to China Olympic because of countinuous abuses of Chinese government in China and international regions,Dafur, Burma and other Africa regions.
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