Flame of Shame: Invitation only

As the Beijing 2008 Olympic flame has been carried around the world, two things can be observed. Firstly that the flame's procession has attracted a much higher level of protest than had originally been expected, even in countries where such feelings traditionally ran high. Secondly that, as the flame has progressed around the world (with a few notable exceptions), the security around it has steadily increased while the length of its route has steadily decreased.

To elaborate on the second point, when the torch passed through London the route was 31 miles long and was guarded by 2000 polices. When it passed through Paris the route was 17 miles long and was guarded by 3,000 police. By the time that the torch arrived in San Fransisco the route was less than 6 miles long, so short that the torch bearers had to run in pairs, and it had to be sneaked onto a different route at the last minute in order to avoid the weight of demonstrators whom had gathered along its official path.

As the torch left the Western sphere, things did improve for a while. However, they became more pronounced once more at the torch moved on to Pakistan and India.

Pakistan

On the face of it, Islamabad and Beijing are old friend. The Pakistani people have little or no history of either anti-China or pro-Tibetan sentiment, and the Pakistani outlook is, on the whole, a lot closer to the Chinese outlook.

To a casual observer, this might make Pakistan seem like a place where Beijing's dream of acceptance through the Olympic movement might be realized. However, even in Pakistan, the torch didn't get quite the reception that Beijing had hoped. Specifically, the procession had to carried out behind closed doors.

Islamabad had originally intended for the torch to be officiated at the Presidential Palace and then to be paraded in public along the cities main boulevard for a total of 2 miles. Instead, the flame was flown in to a military airbase, just outside of the capital, from where it was to Jinnah sports statium without pomp or ceremony along the way. Once at the stadium, a short ceremony was held, after which bearers relayed the torch around the complex and its access roads. A cordon of soldiers barred entry to the venue, and the only way in was with state permission. The procession was free of demonstrators, but also from cheering crowds.

Official accounts on why the route was changed so drastically, and why it was held on what amounted to an invitation only basis, where unclear.

According to the Pakistan Olympic association, the route had to be changed due to unspecified security threats. Thought to be a reference either to the possibility that domestic Islamic groups might try to disrupt the ceremony as an attack on the Musharaf administration, or to the fact that there have been a number of attacks on Chinese interests in Pakistan by groups protesting Beijing's suppression of the Uighur the East Turkestan (Xinjiang).


This account was, however, contradicts a statement from Lieutenant Colonel Baseer Haider Malik, a military official assigned to the Pakistan Sports Board, who stated that there had been no specific threat made against the procession, and that the route change was, in some significant way, a guard against bad weather.

Only government sanctioned footage of the event was permitted to be broadcast, and references to tibet, East Turkistan, and other problematic issues, were kept out of the media.

India

Although India and Pakistan often find themselves on different sides of the China debate, with one seeing Beijing as a strategic ally and the other as seeing it as a strategic competitor, their reactions to the arrival of the Olympic torch were very similar: Surround it with soldiers and parade it before an invited audience.

While London, Paris and San Fransisco had cordoned off the route of the torch, officials in India instead chose to deploy 15,000 members of the security forces to cordon off the entire center of New Delhi. Embarrassingly, even with this level of security, the route had to be shortened to 2 miles to minimize the possibility of disruption.

As with Islamabad, the event was held behind closed doors with no public access. The audience consisting of invited officials and selected younger members of the Chinese and Indian communities.

Despite not being able to access the torch ceremony, pro-Tibet and anti-China protesters were able to make their presence felt in other ways. Several "alternative" torch procession were held, including one which marched from Rajghat, New Deli, and along the planned route of the torch, which attracted several thousand pro-Tibet/Anti-China demonstrators. A protesters, estimated to be 5000 strong, also gathered in Leh, close to the India-Tibet border.

Over 100 people were detained by authorities for trying to breach roadblocks and other cordons, and another 25 were detained trying to cross barracks around the Chinese embassy.

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