NEW DELHI, March 27: A high-level delegation of Pakistan People's Party, led by Makhdoom Amin Fahim, arrived here on Saturday to promote goodwill and people to people contact between the two countries. Mr Fahim, who heads the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy and is the president of the PPP in parliament, told Dawn that he was expecting to meet a cross section of people and political leaders during the week-long visit, his first to New Delhi.

His previous and only visit to India so far was to Mumbai for two days when he travelled from Karachi on the luxury cruiser QE-2. Mr Fahim said he was too busy with his domestic political work to visit India before.

"People are nice and friendly, but we haven't met too many yet," he said.

Association of Peoples of Asia, an NGO headed by Ms Nirmala Deshpande a veteran peace activist, is sponsoring the visit. The delegation visited Mahatma Gandhi's memorial on Saturday, Gandhi Sahab for Mr Fahim.

They will meet Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's Principal Secretary and National Security Adviser Brjaesh Mishra on Sunday morning. Also on the cards is a meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi.