KARACHI: Zarin Musharraf, mother of former president Pervez Musharraf, arrived here from Dubai on Wednesday for ‘permanent stay’ with her son, a spokesperson for the party of the former army chief said.

Travelling with her daughter-in-law Sehba Musharraf and granddaughter Ayla Raza, Zarin Musharraf was visibly in poor health. She was also accompanied by a couple of paramedics. Minutes after landing at the Karachi airport, she was driven to her son’s heavily guarded home off Zamzama in the DHA.

“She is here for permanent stay,” Aasia Ishaque Siddiqui of the All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) said. “She is critically ill and even cannot afford any engagement other than living with her son. With such a health condition, she came only after retired Gen Musharraf, despite trying his best to see his mother while she was in Dubai, could not make it due to politically-motivated cases.”

She said the government, after denying Mr Musharraf’s request to leave the country for a few days to see his mother, had offered to facilitate her arrival here. However, the APML chief turned down the offer and his mother preferred to travel on her own by a regular PIA flight despite severe health conditions, the spokesperson added.

“We have said this time and again. Neither Mr Musharraf, nor Zarin Musharraf are going anywhere or leaving the country. He is here to serve his country after fighting a legal battle against all fake and politically-motivated cases.”

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2014