Lahore, June 23 : Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has revealed that during his childhood he was never good at studies, so his mother was always worried about his future.

In a TV documentary ‘A dinner with the President’ aired by Geo News, Musharraf talked about wide ranging issues, from his childhood days, politics and the prevailing law and order situation in the country.

His mother was shown as saying that her son was very patriotic, and that he had had leadership qualities since childhood, reported the Daily Times.

Defending military rule in Pakistan, Musharraf said he had empowered women and minorities as well as decentralised power.

Describing why an army general takes interest in democracy, Musharraf said that he himself studied Pakistani society and found that the people had been living in a colonial era where deputy commissioners and superintendents had been their ‘godfathers’. “That is why we thought to empower the people and bring democracy at the grassroots level,” the paper quoted him as saying in the TV interview.

He added that every prime minister had “misgoverned’ Pakistan and looked towards the army general headquarters after finding himself and the country in troubled waters.

He said more than 20,000 mercenaries, including Uzbeks and Chechens, were hiding in Pakistan and were perpetuating the negative law and order in the country. (ANI)