Pakistan’s former military ruler General (Retd) Pervez Musharraf dies in Dubai after long illness

Pakistan’s former president and army chief General (retired) Pervez Musharraf,the architect of the Kargil War in 1999, passed away on Sunday morning at a hospital in Dubai, according to media reports.The health of the 79-year-old, who was ill since 2019, had deteriorated recently after developing “heart- and blood pressure-related” complications.Musharraf was suffering from amyloidosis, a rare disease caused by a build-up of an abnormal protein called amyloid in the organs and tissues throughout the body and prevents them from working properly.

Shazia Siraj, spokesperson for Pakistan’s consulate in Dubai and embassy in Abu Dhabi confirmed the news. “I can confirm that he passed away this morning,” she told Reuters.

The former military ruler, whohad seized power in Pakistan in 1999 in a bloodless coupand had put the elected PM Nawaz Sharif and his associates under arrest,had been undergoing treatment at American Hospital Dubai, Geo News reported.

Musharraf'sfamily has issued a statement via his official Twitter account afterhe was hospitalised for three weeks in June last year andnews of his demise had started circulating on social media. “Going through a difficult stage where recovery is not possible and organs are malfunctioning. Pray for ease in his daily living,” his family had said.

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Musharraf, who has been living in Dubai since March 2016, was facing treason charges for suspending the Constitution in 2007, a punishable offence for which he was indicted in 2014.

In 2013, the previous Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government filed a treason case against the former presidentover the imposition of extra-constitutional emergency in 2007.

The former army chief left for Dubai for medical treatment and has not returned since, citing security and health reasons.

In a statement issued immediately after Musharraf’s demise, the military’s media wing the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Sahir Shamshad and all the services chiefs express their heartfelt condolences.

“May Allah bless the departed soul and give strength to the bereaved family,” it said.

Musharraf became Pakistan’s first army chief to be charged with treason when he was indicted on March 31, 2014. He pleaded not guilty to five charges and dismissed them as being politically motivated.

The former army chief was born on August 11, 1943, in Delhi, British India. He got his commission from the Pakistan Military Academy Kakul on April 19, 1961.Upon getting his commission, the former dictator joined the special services group. The military ruler also took part in the 1965 and 1971 wars.

He was promoted to the rank of general in 1998 and took over as the chief of army staff (COAS), a post he held till 2007. A year later on October 12, 1999, Gen (retd) Musharraf usurped power in a coup d'etat.

Musharraf remained the longest-serving president of Pakistan after he seized the country's reins. He got elected as the president for a five-year term through a referendum in 2002but reneged on promises to quit as army chief until late 2007and remained in office till 2008.

On March 30, 2014, Musharraf was indicted for suspending the Constitution on November 3, 2007and washanded death sentence by a special court in the high treason case against himon December 17, 2019 in absentia.However, a court later nullified the ruling.

The former military ruler had left Pakistan in March 2016 for Dubai to seek medical treatment and didn’t return since.

This a breaking story. More updates will follow

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