Pakistan’s former military dictator Pervez Musharraf arrived in London on Sunday. This is his first visit abroad after he resigned from the post of president to escape imminent impeachment in August this year.
India’s leading TV channel NDTV reports that “Musharraf’s visit comes amidst much speculation that he is planning on settling in the UK and is not intending to return to Pakistan.”
There were “no cameras, and almost no mention of Musharraf’s visit in the British media.”
This must have been a shock for Musharraf who was until recently glamorized by the American and the British media as the knight in the shining armour fighting the West’s war against terrorism.
“The former president arrived in London on a regular Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight. He was received by a handful of people, no one more senior than the deputy high commissioner of the Pakistani embassy in the UK.
“The contrast could not have been more striking. Just months ago, Pervez’s visit to the UK was one of the most widely covered visits by any foreign leader. He was the man who held the key to Pakistan’s destiny, and some would say, the world’s stability.” More here…
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.