NEW DELHI, April 16 (Xinhuanet) -- Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf arrived here Saturday evening after praying at the Sufi shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti in Ajmer in the state of Rajasthan in the afternoon.

    Musharraf came by a special Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane, which first flew in from Islamabad to Jaipur. From there he took an Indian Air Force helicopter to go to Ajmer, and returned to Jaipur before taking his special PIA flight to New Delhi.

    Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is hosting a dinner for Musharraf at the Convention Hall of the Ashok Hotel Saturday night.

    "I hope relations will improve between India and Pakistan," theIndo-Asian News Service quoted Musharraf as saying at the Muslim shrine in Ajmer. "We have come with a message of peace. We want the progress and development of the people of Pakistan and India and the two countries. This can only happen if there is peace," hesaid.

    Musharraf, who has always wanted to visit the dargah - the mostrevered Sufi shrine in the sub-continent - but could not do so when he last came to India in July 2001, spent some 35 minutes at the sprawling shrine.

    Before leaving Ajmer, Musharraf wrote in the visitors' book kept at the dargah: "I consider it my honor as also of my entire delegation to have prayed at the shrine of the most revered Sufi saint, Hazrat Moinuddin Chisti. "May our prayers for peace, harmony and amity between Pakistan and India and prosperity of both the countries be answered." Enditem