General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s former president who took power in a bloodless coup in 1999 and launched a campaign against Islamist extremism, has died at the age of 79, according to the Daily Mail.
General Musharraf was a controversial military ruler who led a reluctant Pakistan into assisting the US war in Afghanistan against the same Taliban fighters his country had previously supported, despite being targeted for assassination twice.
According to the New York Post, Pakistan’s military and the country’s mission in the United Arab Emirates announced the death of the former army chief, 79, who was ousted from power in 2008.
“I can confirm that he passed away this morning,” Shazia Siraj, spokesperson for Pakistan’s consulate in Dubai and embassy in Abu Dhabi, told Reuters.
How he died
Pakistani former President Pervez Musharraf died on Sunday, February 5th, 2023, following a prolonged illness at a hospital in Dubai, after years in self-imposed exile.
Reaction
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif offered his condolences to Musharraf’s family on social media.
“May the departed soul rest in peace,” he tweeted.
Life and times before death
The former special forces commando became president through the last of a string of military coups that hit Pakistan after its founding amid the bloody 1947 partition of India.
He ruled the nuclear-armed state after his 1999 coup through turbulent times, including tensions with India, an atomic proliferation scandal and an Islamic extremist insurgency, an ALJAZEERA report also confirmed.