In-focus

Former president and army chief Pervez Musharraf passes away in Dubai

Former president and army chief Pervez Musharraf passes away in Dubai

Pakistan

Former president and army chief Pervez Musharraf passes away in Dubai

DUBAI (Dunya News) - Former army chief and president retired general Pervez Musharraf passed away at a private hospital in Dubai, Dunya News reported while quoting the diplomatic sources. He was 79.

The former general had been admitted to the American Hospital, Dubai. Musharraf was admitted to Dubai hospitals more than once in the past. He had been facing prolonged battle with the rare disease amyloidosis.

The former military ruler was hospitalised for three weeks in June last year. "Going through a difficult stage where recovery is not possible and organs are malfunctioning. Pray for ease in his daily living,” his family said at the time in a statement via Musharraf’s official Twitter account.

The family had issued the statement after the news of his demise had started circulating on social media after some Pakistani and Indian publications carried it.

On Sunday, Musharraf's family has filed an application in the Pakistani consulate in Dubai to shift the former military leader's body to Pakistan.

A special jet will fly to Dubai from Nur Khan airbase to bring Musharraf's mortal remains back to Pakistan.

-- Condolences pour in --

Politicians and others have expressed their profound grief over the demise of Gen Musharraf.

PTI leader Ch Fawad Hussian in a tweet uttered positive words about the departed soul, saying Pervez Musharraf himself was a great man, but his friends turned to be cheap. 

Reacting to the news, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) General Sahir Shamshad, and tri-services chiefs expressed heartfelt condolences on the former army chief's demise.

"CJCSC and services chiefs express heartfelt condolences on the sad demise of General Pervez Musharraf, former president, CJCSC and chief of army staff. May Allah bless the departed soul and give strength to the bereaved family," the military's media wing said.

PML-Q leaders Ch Parvez Elahi and Ch Moonis Elahi also expressed their deep sense of shock over the demise, saying the services of Gen Musharraf for the army and Pakistan would always be remembered.

In a series of tweets, Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani expressed deep sorrow over the former president’s death and extended condolences to the grieving family.

“May God grant the deceased a high rank and give patience to the family,” he added.

-- Profile --

Pervez Musharraf was born on August 11, 1943 in New Delhi, India. He who took power in a coup in 1999 and also served as president of Pakistan from 2001 to 2008.

Musharraf moved with his family from New Delhi to Karachi in 1947, when Pakistan was carved out as an independent country. The son of a career diplomat, he lived in Turkey during 1949–56. He joined the army in 1964, graduated from the Army Command and Staff College in Quetta, and attended the Royal College of Defence Studies in London.

The former army chief held a number of appointments in the artillery, the infantry, and commando units and also taught at the Staff College in Quetta and in the War Wing of the National Defence College.

He fought in Pakistan’s 1965 and 1971 wars with India. The then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appointed Gen Musharraf head of the armed forces in October 1998.

On October 12, 1999, while Musharraf was out of the country, Sharif dismissed him and tried to prevent the plane carrying Musharraf home from landing at the Karachi airport. The armed forces, however, took control of the airport and other government installations and deposed Sharif, paving the way for Musharraf to become head of a military government.

Although he was generally considered to hold moderate views and promised an eventual return to civilian rule, Musharraf suspended the constitution and dissolved parliament. He formed the National Security Council, made up of civilian and military appointees, to run Pakistan in the interim.

In early 2001 he assumed the presidency and later attempted to negotiate an agreement with India over the Kashmir region. Following the September 11 attacks in 2001 in the United States and the subsequent US invasion of Afghanistan later that year, the US government cultivated close ties with Musharraf in an attempt to root out Islamic extremists in the Afghan-Pakistan border region.

Following a movement led by the political parties, Musharraf resigned as the president on August 18, 2008.

On March 30, 2014, Musharraf was indicted for suspending the Constitution on November 3, 2007. On December 17, 2019, a special court handed Musharraf death sentence in the high treason case against him.

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

-- More to follow