ISLAMABAD: President Mamnoon Hussain on Saturday expressed optimism by saying that Pakistan’s future was bright as the government was taking it to the right direction, however, stressed that everyone must play their due role for the nation’s development.
During a television programme that encompassed whole of his life including childhood, student, political as well as marital life, the president said that illiteracy and corruption were the areas of his focus and the government was making all out efforts to address both the issues.
He expressed satisfaction as no corruption scam had surfaced during this government’s tenure so far and hoped that the government would lead the country to progress and prosperity. He said Pakistan had been enlisted among emerging markets and international financial institutions were lauding the country’s economic growth. However, the situation could have been far better had the national resources not been plundered in the past, he added.
Accompanied by his wife – Begum Mehmooda Mamnoon – the president shared his childhood’s golden memories when equal respect was given to both the rich and the poor. Mamnoon said his family had migrated to Pakistan in 1949. Sharing the moments of his childhood days, he said his grandfather used to ride his grandsons at his buggy to Taj Mahal and his father used to distribute fruit slices among all of his children at the dining table.
Mamnoon said his father had not enrolled his children in school rather had hired several teachers to teach them at home and were not allowed to play with the neighbours’ children but the ‘strict’ atmosphere of his childhood, he said, helped his growth. However, he joined college for ‘intermediate’ and history and mathematics became his favourite subjects.
Mamnoon said in his college days he was frequent ‘cinema-goer’ and watched Dillip Kumar, Reena Kumari, Nargis and Madhu Bala’s movies besides those of Hollywood. Contrarily, the First Lady said she watched her first movie after her wedding. The couple has similar likeness of classic music like Fareeda Khanum, Iqbal Bano, Mehdi Hassan and Muhammad Rafi – Allama Iqbal, Ahmed Faraz, Nasir Kazmi are the President’s favourite poets.
Mamnoon – who used to dream of being cricketer in his boyhood – joined the Pakistan Muslim League in 1993 when Nawaz Sharif was in Karachi. He said he would chose presidency over his childhood dream as being in the office, he could serve the people. When asked about the First Lady, he said that she had always supported him – who before assuming President’s office – used to dedicate his Sundays to his friends.
