Father/son relationship and mother's identity

Throughout the novel, there is a disconnection between fathers and their sons. In most of the instances,the fathers even fail to recognise such differences. Mostly, it is the sons who feel the gap and react to it. The conversation in Shiraz between Zakir's friends about their fathers shows great level of alienatioin their relations.
In the relation of Khawaja sahib and his sons, Khawaja sahib is cherry picking the son which fits as good in role as 'his' son. In that process, he is disowning Salamat, which leads to further alienation for Salamat.
Instead of engaging with their sons and bridging the gaps, the fathers are acting as figures of centralised authority. They are trying to make a certain identity for themselves which asks for obedience and is not vulnerable to emotions. Since the fathers are then taken as stronger member of the pair of  parents, the mothers are indirectly associated with weakness, and so the department of emotional engagement with the children is assigned to them. In the making of such identity for fathers, the role of mothers is also unconsciously defined.