January 17, 2008	Thursday	Muharram 07, 1429

LAHORE, Jan 16: Although there have been some considerations over the Olympic torchbearers’ ceremony for the Beijing Olympics in Pakistan, the previous programme scheduled for April is still intact.

Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) Secretary Abdul Khaliq Khan told Dawn on Wednesday that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had been assured that there would be no adverse affects on the torchbearers’ movement in Pakistan after the bomb blasts in Lahore and Karachi.

He said that the Chinese ambassador in Islamabad had also been assured regarding the matter. The POA had been contacted by the IOC and the Chinese ambassador soon after the bomb blast in Lahore to discuss the security situation in Pakistan.

Sources said that the POA President Syed Arif Hasan in his telephone call to the IOC has assured them about the smooth conducting of the ceremony here.