Himalayan News Service

Lucknow, March 20:

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s brother Javed and son Bilal were today impressed by this Uttar Pradesh capital and its cultural heritage. The two arrived here this morning sans the Musharraf’s mother Zarin, who dropped out because of an acute backache suffered following a road journey to Aligarh on Friday. “If I were Bilal’s age, I would have joined some academic programme at Lucknow University so that I could live in this beautiful town for sometime,” Javed told reporters. Javed, 71, a retired Pakistani diplomat, appeared surprised by the continued appeal of Urdu in Uttar Pradesh. Bilal, 32, is an economic analyst based in the US. Both Bilal and Javed have come to India without their spouses or children.

While declining to answer any political questions, they were ready to face all other queries from the media during intermittent halts at various places in Lucknow. The duo visited Lucknow’s two historic Imambaras, the Residency and Lucknow University, where Zarin studied before India’s partition in 1947. “We made it a point to visit the university campus particularly because my Daadi (grandmother) was very keen that we see her alma mater as also Kailash Hostel where she has spent some time,” said Bilal as he stepped out of the hostel. A beaming hostel provost Nishi Pandey expressed her keenness to have Zarin as a patron of the hostel. Impressed by the historic Asafi Imambaras, he said: “This Bhulbhulaiya (maze) at the Imambara is amazing. I thought it must be something underground, but here you come across such a majestic piece of architecture.” Javed and Bilal had lunch with their distant cousin at the latter’s residence.