Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has said he was encouraged to join the Army by his mother as he was not good at academics and that he often felt "lonely" during his eight-year reign.
Musharraf, who has maintained his iron grip on Pakistan since 1999 after deposing the then premier Nawaz Sharif in a bloodless coup, said he was not very good at studies unlike his brothers and therefore his mother Zarreen Begum "the most important person in his life" encouraged him to join the Army.
"But she didn't know that one has to study even more in the Army," the commando-turned-politician chuckled.
In an interview to Geo channel, a candid Musharraf said though he often got "lonely" during the past eight years, there
Musharraf, 62, whose allies faced a crushing defeat in the February 18 polls, hoped the nation would remember him as "frank, straightforward, honest and practical person" and as someone "who cared for the country, for the people and worked honestly and diligently for them".
Wearing a fawn-coloured pathan suit and a shawl, Musharraf said his mother was a teacher and walked a couple of miles to her school every day to save money to buy fruits for her children. He described his father as a man of character who was very loyal to Pakistan.
The President said he hailed from a middle class family and never pushed his case. He said God had given him a lot that was beyond his expectations.