ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -The Olympic torch came to Pakistan early Wednesday for what the pro-China government hoped would be a festive and trouble-free leg of its world tour.

Protests against China's human rights record disrupted the torch's passage through Western cities last week, and Pakistani authorities took pains to avoid any repeat during its short stay en route to Beijing.

A jetliner bringing the torch from the Persian Gulf sultanate of Oman arrived at the military section of Islamabad airport shortly after midnight. A Chinese Olympic official carried a lantern containing the flame down the steps to Pakistani sports chiefs and the Chinese ambassador.

After briefly posing with the lantern, the officials entered the terminal. State TV said the flame would be kept at a luxury hotel overnight.

Later Wednesday, Hassan Sardar, a field hockey gold medalist in the 1984 Los Angeles games, squash star Jahangir Khan and some five dozen other Pakistani athletes were scheduled to participate in a torch relay.

They were to take turns carrying the torch during a ceremony featuring folk music and dances at the capital's biggest sports complex before a crowd expected to include President Pervez Musharraf.