Tight security for Republic Day in India

Amid unprecedented security, India has been celebrating its birth as a republic. The country's leaders looked at as New Delhi's annual colourful parade made its way through the streets of the capital, streets guarded by heavily-armed troops with fears high that militants may strike. The day after it controversially tested a nuclear-capable ballistic missile, India put its military might on display though fewer soldiers than usual pounded the street. Many are otherwise engaged, deployed along the border with Pakistan. The two countries are still locked in a tense standoff following an attack on the Indian parliament last month, an act that New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based Kashmiri separatists. Pakistan's President, Pervez Musharraf, meanwhile, sent a special Republic Day message in which he urged India's Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, to join him in the pursuit of peace.