All the arrangements are in place for the Pakistan leg of the Beijing Olympic torch relay, Syed Arif Hasan, president of the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA), said on Monday.

Addressing reporters at the Jinnah Sports Complex, Hasan said Pakistan had made all the necessary preparations to make the torch relay in Islamabad a success.

"We are going to receive the torch on the morning of April 16," Hasan said.

"The proceedings will start with a torch lighting ceremony and thereafter the relay will start.

"At the end of the relay there will be a ceremony for the lighting of the cauldron."

A short entertainment program will follow the cauldron lighting ceremony and there will be a fireworks show, he said.

Sixty-five torchbearers, mostly athletes, will participate in the torch relay, Hasan said.

Lu Xiaohong, a media coordinator with the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympic Games, presented the so-called Lucky Cloud torch.

She also mentioned the "journey of harmony" taken by the torch and thanked the POA and Pakistan for their support of the relay.

Islamabad is the 10th leg of the relay. The Beijing Olympic torch will next be taken to New Delhi, capital of India.

 

(Xinhua News Agency April 16, 2008)