Helping hand, some muscle

I am sorry.

We could have provided you a more "spectacular" protest today if security arrangements were little more relaxed than 17,000 police personnel, including commandos, on their toes. For those of you who couldn't see us, there was a heart-rending yak dance as our parallel freedom torch was carried through in Delhi, and if that was not enough, one Buddhist nun knelt down in front of a policeman and said, "Please help us, China is killing our people inside Tibet." But this was the sideshow.

China has once again proved that with its military power it can even turn the central heart of the capital of a free and democratic country like India into a military zone, throw the city's roads into gridlock.Even if for a few hours.

I started my day with a protest plan but was unsure of executing it in this maze of security. The aim was to make ourselves heard. With fellow activists, we revisited our plans first thing in the morning and by 11 am, our plans had already changed several times as we got to know more de- tails about the security. Many of our activists got arrested even before they could do anything. By 4 pm, it was impossible for our people to reach the protest site in groups. I was constantly coordinating but the more phone calls I made, I realized that our protests were dissipating in the face of an impenetrable fortress around Rajpath.

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Government taking no Tibet chance, seals torch route for 5 hrs

The Olympic torch landed in Delhi late tonight for the India leg of the relay tomorrow. Hours earlier, the Union Home Ministry issued strict security guidelines which includes sealing all government buildings overlooking the Rajpath. The Ministry issued instructions stating that "all windows and doors" of these buildings should be closed from 1 pm to 6 pm tomorrow, and visitors barred.

In measures in line with those seen during the Republic Day parade, rooftops and balconies of these buildings will be secured, open only to security personnel.

The Olympic torch relay is planned along a 2.3 km route, from the main gate of the Rashtrapati Bhawan to India Gate, between 3 pm and 6 pm. In keeping with concerns expressed by the Chinese, the Ministry has come out with a comprehensive checklist that it hopes will keep potential Tibetan protesters at bay.

The measures, reviewed at a meeting chaired by Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta, includes a multi-layered security along the torch route that will involve thousands of military, paramilitary and police personnel. Crack commandos will form the inner cordon.

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Will carry it, not for china but with a prayer forTibet, blogs Aamir Khan

After Indian soccer star Baichung Bhutia, it is the turn of film actor Aamir Khan to express his solidarity with the Tibetan cause - but in a completely contrasting fashion.

While Bhutia declined an invitation to participate in the Olympic torch relay when it comes to India on April 17, saying it was his way of standing by the people of Tibet, Aamir Khan today spurned calls for a similar boycott and said he will run "...not in support of China... but with a prayer in my heart for the people of Tibet..."

Stressing that he had "the highest regard and respect for the struggle that the people of Tibet are going through," Aamir Khan said he would still run because the Olympic Games did not belong to China but to the entire human race".

In fact, if we were to try and find on this planet a place to hold the Olympic Games where the government of that place has not been responsible for human rights violations (in one way or the other), then I suspect that we would be left with very few options, if any at all," he wrote in his blog today.

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