Image: (APA/AFP/AAMIR QURESHI)
A senior Pakistani security official told AFP Sunday morning that the 79-year-old man “had his last breath” in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and the Pakistani military confirmed his death. Musharraf, who first took power in Pakistan in 1999 and then ruled as the country’s president from 2001 to 2008, had been seriously ill for a long time.
The previously disgraced general has lived in Dubai since 2016. In a statement released by the Pakistani military press office, senior military officials expressed their “deepest condolences on the sad passing of General Pervez Musharraf.” “May Allah bless the deceased soul and give strength to the bereaved,” it said.
Musharraf’s family had already announced in the summer of 2022 that he was terminally ill and would never recover from “organ failure”.
Musharraf was President of Pakistan from 2001 to 2008. In October 1999 he deposed then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a bloodless military coup and took power.
Over the years, however, the conflicts with the judiciary and the opposition increased. In the wake of the crisis, Musharraf suspended the constitution in November 2007, dissolved parliament and dismissed the chief judges.
Ultimately, these steps triggered a wave of protests that forced him to resign in August 2008. After his ouster, Musharraf went into exile for several years, but returned in March 2013 to stand in parliamentary elections.
However, Musharraf was barred from running. In addition, a travel ban was imposed on him. After its repeal, he fled to Dubai in 2016. In December 2019 he was sentenced to death in absentia for treason, but the sentence was later overturned by a court.
Source: Nachrichten
