Accueil de la flamme olympique en Inde...

     Selon Jiang, comme l'Inde a indiqué à plusieurs reprises que le relais de la torche olympique était non seulement un honneur pour  les Indiens mais aussi un honneur pour tous les Asiatiques, le  pays a accordé beaucoup d'attention à l'événement. 

     "Nous sommes convaincus que le relais obtiendra le soutien de  tous les Indiens et la coopération efficace de la partie indienne, et nous pensons que l'Inde prendra des mesures efficaces pour  assurer un relais sûr et sans encombre à New Delhi", a-t-elle dit. 

     Selon elle, si des organisations de l'"Indépendance du Tibet"  cherchent à perturber le relais en Inde, ils révèleront une fois  de plus leur vraie nature de séparatisme et de perturbation.  

     Jiang a réaffirmé que la Chine et l'Inde ont maintenu une bonne tendance en termes de développement des relations bilatérales et  ont eu des échanges et contacts étroits. 

     New Delhi sera la 11e étape du relais, programmé le 17 avril,  après Islamabad au Pakistan.

NEW DELHI: Leaving nothing to chance, the Union home ministry on Wednesday issued strict security guidelines - along the lines of those adopted during Republic Day - and instructed Delhi Police to put in place a three-layered security ring for Thursday’s 2.3 km-long Olympic torch run on the Rajpath, which will be sealed for six hours from 1 pm.

According to the guidelines, all doors and windows of buildings facing Rajpath will remain closed from 1 pm to 6 pm.

Employees working in these buildings will have to remain indoors during that period. The relay will take place between 3 pm and 6 pm and cover the stretch between Rashtrapati Bhavan and India Gate.

Though school students will line up along Rajpath to cheer the runners, the relay will be out of bounds for the general public.

Sources in the home ministry said about 20 Chinese commandos, drawn from the Olympic Holy Flame Protection Group, will form the inner circle of the security ring while elite National Security Guards (NSG) personnel - in plain clothes - will comprise the second ring.

Commandos from the NSG and other paramilitary forces like CRPF, BSF and ITBP will take control of all the highrise buildings along the relay route and keep a watch from rooftops, even as two choppers will provide air cover for the event.

The security guidelines made it clear that only the police, military and security personnel on duty on Thursday would be allowed access to rooftops and balconies of those buildings after 1 pm and no employee would be allowed there after that.

Even the lawns outside North Block and South Block would remain out of bounds for visitors as well as employees and the parking space would remain closed.

"To prevent entry of Tibetans protesters into the Capital, borders with Himachal Pradesh and other adjoining states will be sealed on Wednesday night and a strong company of around 1,000 policemen will conduct raids at Majnu Ka Tila to take protesters into preventive detention," said a senior police officer involved in the security arrangements.

More than 20,000 policemen in the Capital have been pressed into service for the torch relay. They will take their position from Thursday morning.

Security personnel have been told to look out for protesters in disguise. A strong fence and double barricading have been put in place around the lawns surrounding India Gate and Vijay Path.

JCP (New Delhi range) Ajay Kashyap said, "We have made all security arrangements. The plans are secret and subject to last minute changes." The Metro routes leading to the relay relay will remain closed for five hours and securitymen have been asked to keep a check on the tunnels as Tibetan protestors may try to use them to reach the venue. The venue will be sealed from all sides, said a senior home ministry official.

Several quick reaction teams have been formed to thwart immolation bids or burning of Chinese flags.