In A Plane With Musharraf's Mother

Mr. Riaz Khan [riazkhan0427@gmail.com] is a retired senior bureaucrat and a blogger. On Aug. 19, he happened to share the same flight with former President Musharraf's mother and elder brother from Islamabad to Karachi.

This is what he wrote [my comments are at the bottom]:

"Dear Friends of Pakistan & of President Musharraf, I want to share my personal experience of Wednesday while coming on 3.00 PM PIA flight from ISL to Karachi. I was travelling in Economy Plus & had a window seat. A elderly lady in the same row on Aile seat sat who was assisted by a dignified man, I immediately recognized that she was Musharraf's mother & the man resembled like Musharraf although little thinner. In the front row was our bull dog looking finance minister Shaukat Tareen seated. Once the plane took off, I offered my respect to the lady & told her that how much we love his son. The person sitting next to me was Musharraf's elder brother, who is settled in Rome. Guys, he was such a humble and nice man that I cannot find words to explain him. We knew lot of mutual friends and talked during the flight. Besides, I mentioned to Musharraf mother about my father in law, while her husband was posted in Ankara & surprisingly she remembered the names of my sister in laws and mother in law. There was no protocol, no special treatment except wheel chair as offered to ordinary PIA passengers at KHI airport. Our bull dog Finance Minister did not had the courtesy to say hello to the aged lady. Outside the airport was Ayala, president's daughter to receive them. Can you imagine this happening to any of our other leaders, who had ruled the country for 9 years. One of my friend, who knows Musharraf very well visited him in his modest two bed room flat in London and was invited for dinner at his place. I was told that he was laying the table for dinner himself & was extremely happy, content and satisfied with life. There were no regrets or ill feelings against anybody & his only concern was Pakistan. Aren't we an unfortunate nation to lose a remarkable person like him & replace him with the likes of AAZ, NS & SS?"

MY COMMENTS: My dear Mr. Riaz, it was Mr. Musharraf's deliberate decision to leave Pakistan in the hands of these inept, tried, tested and failed politicians. No one forced Mr. Musharraf to do it. He did it to himself and to all of us. Washington wouldn't have imposed these cartoons on us if it wasn't for Mr. Musharraf's full endorsement. I say this with great disappointment because I was one of the rare few who backed him in the public arena in the hope that he would the right thing.