Former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf, whose popularity is quite unmatched on social networking website Facebook, has been declared "Connector of the Day" by CNN.
"Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is becoming one of the biggest stars in Facebook. His personal Facebook page has more than 127,000 fans and he regularly answers questions and posts status updates," reads a note put up on CNN.com. Musharraf, who signed up on Facebook sometime in October last year, has become very popular across the board.
The former military ruler, who quit in August 2008 to avoid being impeached, is currently living abroad. According to Musharraf's own snapshot of his fans according to age, location and gender, he has about 100,000 Pakistanis following him on Facebook.
As of February 1, he also had 629 Indian fans, with 258 based in New Delhi. Musharraf has been taking pains to answer almost all questions put to him by his fans and followers.
It was on Facebook that he first admitted he had made a mistake by promulgating the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), a graft amnesty that benefited President Asif Ali Zardari. The NRO was recently struck down by Pakistan’s Supreme Court.
During the past week, Musharraf has been hounded about the case of Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani national who was recently convicted by a US court for attempting to kill American military personnel. Several rights groups have claimed that Siddiqui was handed over to the US by Musharraf’s regime.
In a message posted on his home page two days ago, Musharraf said, "I have already answered questions regarding Dr Aafia's case. I reiterate that I had no role to play and no knowledge of her arrest and being taken to the US. Any aspersions being cast on my person in the matter are either ill-informed or malicious in intent." Last week, Musharraf wrote that he supported Pasdar-e-Pakistan, a grassroots organisation of his supporters.
"The Pasdars have been holding seminars, conventions, press conferences and public demonstrations on issues of national concern. They are engaged in building support all over Pakistan and beyond."
As this organisation expands its membership of registered supporters, I urge you to offer your support to it. Asked why he had become a soft target of the media and about his opinion on the media’s role in Pakistan, Musharraf wrote, "Some say that I am a victim of my own creation."
"I am a strong believer in freedom of the print and electronic media. It was this strong conviction which led me to open up the electronic media to the private sector and remove all shades of restrictions on the print media, bringing to fruition, the long struggle of the media for freedom."
Musharraf said, he "did not believe in currying favours to get a favourable response from the media. Maybe, me and my team were not media-savvy. Our opponents used all means abundantly available to them to influence the media."
