ISLAMABAD, June 19: President General Pervez Musharraf in a TV programme aired on Sunday to mark the Fathers’ Day asked children to inculcate the virtues of honesty, truthfulness and contentment and focus on education and character building to become useful and responsible individuals.

He asked the children to pay respect to their parents.

“We are lucky to live in a society where children respect their elders. It is not like the western societies where children, when they grow up, leave their parents,” he said while speaking in the special programme on Father’s Day.

In a 10-minute chat with the host children on telephone, President Musharraf responded to many questions about his childhood and his parents. He also advised children on how they could become good persons in their life.

“Don’t call me Mr President. For you (children), I am not a president,” he said when asked by the children as to how they should address him. “Call me uncle.”

He said he missed his father very much, especially on occasions like ‘Eid’.

“He had a very balanced relationship with all his three children and brought them up to be successful persons in their lives,” the president said on being asked as to who was his father’s favourite.

He said he himself has a very friendly relationship with his children and treated them alike.

President Musharraf said there should be all-round grooming of a child that included education, character building and physical activities like sports. “Parents must take care of all these elements and children must work hard towards this end,” he added.

He said it was the responsibility of parents, society and the government to provide them all facilities.

The president said Pakistan is an Islamic country. “The religion is in our spirit, it is in our blood.”

He said as good Muslims we should fulfil our responsibilities and adopt virtues like honesty, truthfulness and contentment, and respect rights of other members of the society to be good human beings.

The president asked the children to keep their country over and above everything. “Pakistan comes first. We must fight those who are speaking badly about our country,” he added.

He also advised children to perform well in all fields and raise the image of their country in the comity of nations.

President Musharraf also had a piece of advice for the parents. “Parents should take full care of their children and raise them up in a proper way,” he said and added that whenever he saw someone treading on the wrong path he felt his parents did not guide him properly.

“A society or a country cannot progress when the character of its people is not good,” said the president and added that it was necessary and important for our country that its people were of sound character.

“Your biggest responsibility (towards your children) is their character building,” he advised the parents.—APP