NEW DELHI, April 13: President Gen Pervez Musharraf will start his three-day tour to India on Saturday by visiting the shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti at Ajmer before arriving in New Delhi, official sources said on Wednesday. For security reasons and to save time and the attendant inconvenience to the highway traffic, the president will take a helicopter to Ajmer after landing at the neighbouring Jaipur.

Then Indian foreign minister Jaswant Singh, speaking moments after President Musharraf’s Agra visit in 2001 ended, had explained Gen Musharraf’s empty-handed return on the absence of a hukm from the Ajmer shrine.

That hukm very nearly gave a slip on Wednesday too when Gen Musharraf’s desire to visit the shrine was momentarily stalled by its authorities who wanted him to come there on Saturday afternoon because of ongoing prayers.

According to the earlier plan, Gen Musharraf was to land first in Jaipur en route to Delhi, visit the shrine on Saturday morning and reach here in the afternoon to be at the dinner being hosted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh the same evening.

There was a proposal: let the president visit the dargah on his way back on April 18. But Pakistani diplomats said the issue had been resolved and Gen Musharraf would go to the shrine shortly after the crowd at the special prayers dispersed.

On Sunday morning, he would watch the one-day match between India and Pakistan at the Ferozeshah Kotla grounds for a couple of hours. Prime Minister Singh will join him for the match.

The president will then break away for a host of meetings with the Indian leadership and then meet his Indian counterpart A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, who is hosting a lunch for him the same day. A meeting with the Hurriyat leaders has also been lined up.

There are suggestions to have Premier Singh and President Musharraf at the prize distribution ceremony in the evening after the match, but a decision on this has not been taken yet. Later in the day, the Pakistan High Commission plans to host a reception in honour of the president.

Elaborate security measures, including aerial ferry service, have been chalked out for the match.