Pervez Musharraf, a former military dictator, passed dead at the age of 79 in Dubai.
After a long and hard-fought struggle against a rare disease, the former president is expected to be laid to rest in Pakistan.
General (ret.) Pervez Musharraf, a former head of state of the military who had been residing in Dubai since 2016, passed away on Sunday.
According to his family, the 79-year-old former president and chief of the army staff had amyloidosis, a rare disease brought on by the accumulation of an abnormal protein called amyloid in organs and tissues all across the body. The organs and tissues may find it challenging to function effectively as a result of the accumulation of amyloid proteins (deposits).
The All Pakistan Muslim League (APML), Musharraf’s party, revealed that he had the rare ailment in 2018, bringing attention to the former leader’s condition.
He left behind a daughter, son, and widow to mourn. His family has stated that his remains would be sent to Pakistan for interment.
Although the location of the burial has not yet been determined, indications indicate that Islamabad or Karachi are the most likely candidates.
Sources claim that on Monday, an especially chartered flight will fly from Islamabad to Dubai carrying the deceased and his family members.
According to reports, the family is in contact with the nation’s top leaders and concerned officials to make funeral arrangements. A formal announcement will be made once the offended family has reached its decision regarding the specifics.
The Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee of Pakistan (CJCSC) and Services Chiefs expressed their sincere sympathies and expressed their profound sadness over the news.
The media branch of the military, the ISPR, released a statement that began, “May Allah bless the departed soul and provide strength to the bereaved family.”
a military dictator
On August 11, 1943, in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Musharraf was born. After Pakistan’s creation in 1947, Musharraf’s family relocated to the city of Karachi in the south of Pakistan. Syed Musharrafuddin, his father, worked as an accounts officer.
Musharraf served in the 1965 and 1971 Pak-India conflicts after enlisting in the Pakistani Army in 1964. He also graduated from the Army Staff and Command College in Quetta.
Musharraf was also the “primary architect” of the Kargil war between Pakistan and India in 1999, according to retired Pakistani Army brigadier Said Nazir. The war broke out months after Atal Bihari Vajpayee and then-Indian Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif signed a peace treaty in Lahore.
After Nawaz Sharif attempted to remove Musharraf from his position as army chief in 1999, where he had been selected above more senior officers, Musharraf took over as country’s leader in a bloodless coup. He installed himself as president in 2002 after forcing Rafiq Tarar to resign.
From 2001 to 2008, the four-star general presided over Pakistan. He was in power when the US was attacked on September 11, 2001, and he quickly sided with Washington when it intervened militarily in neighbouring Afghanistan.
He presided over a period of economic prosperity during his more than seven years in office despite avoiding at least three murder attempts.
In a referendum in 2002, Musharraf won a five-year term as president, but he delayed leaving his position as army head until late 2007.
Despite being a military dictator, he nevertheless implemented some significant reforms, such as reserving seats for women and members of underrepresented groups, establishing a system of strong local governments, and allowing a flood of news channels to proliferate across Pakistan’s media landscape.
The democratic governments that came after this one kept these reforms.
He lost favour after attempting to remove the chief justice at the time, Iftikhar Chaudhry, since his easygoing charm was unable to conceal the blurring of the line separating the state and army.
A significant uprising against Musharraf’s administration, known as the “Lawyers Movement,” began when the top judge questioned the legitimacy of Musharraf’s dual office as president and Army Chief. Though only a few months after enormous protests forced Chaudhry to retake office on July 20, 2007, Musharraf once again tried to regain power by declaring an emergency and suspending the Pakistani Constitution.
About 97 senior judges were instantly sacked and imprisoned for their refusal to recognise the emergency rule as the lawyer’s resistance grew stronger.
The nation’s attitude worsened after opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in December 2007, and the humiliating defeats his allies suffered in the 2008 elections made him an outcast.
The disqualification from competing in an election won by Nawaz, the man Musharraf had overthrown in 1999, put an end to his plans to take back power in 2013.
After a travel ban was lifted in 2016, Musharraf went to Dubai for medical care.
Musharraf was charged in 2014 for putting the Constitution on hold on November 3, 2007. A special court handed down the ex-military strongman’s death sentence in absentia in a high treason case in December 2019.
