ISLAMABAD -- An Iranian cyclist couple, pleading for peace and to promote sport, arrived in Pakistan at first leg of a three-nation tour, which will take them to India and Nepal.

The couple also wants to draw the world community attention to the flood-affected and earthquake-hit people in the region and to highlight the importance of insurance, IRNA reported.

Behrouz Bavafa and his spouse Shohreh Fakhr Sheikholeslami, who began their journey from Zahedan, will complete their 4,090 kilometers mission in 38 days. Shohreh Fakhr Sheikholeslami is the first Iranian woman to travel by bike outside her country in Islamic veil.

"We have started the journey with good intention for humanitarian cause. We plead for the promotion of cultural, political and economic ties among the regional nations," Behrouz Bavafa told IRNA in an interview in Islamabad.

He said he and his wife spent nine days to reach Islamabad from Zahedan. They will proceed to Lahore, the capital of Pakistan's eastern Punjab Province for their onward journey to India via Wagah border.

Bavafa, a senior member of the Iranian Cycling Federation, has traveled to 16 European and Asian nations on cycle. In 1997 he traveled between the Iraqi city of Halabcha and the Japanese city of Hiroshima in four months.

He thanked Pakistani sport officials and the people for warm welcome to them since they have entered Pakistan via the city of Quetta, the capital of southwestern Baluchistan Province.

Shohreh Fakhr Sheikholeslami told IRNA that she had undergone five years of practice for a long cycle journey.

"It was a difficult task for me but I accepted the challenge to serve the humanity," she said.

She said she started the journey with a strong determination to draw the attention of the world community to the miseries of the flood affected people.