Pervez Musharraf was the former president of Pakistan, and he died at the age 79 after a long battle with cancer.
According to news outlets, the retired politician who ruled Pakistan for almost a decade, after a bloodless coup in 1999.
The Emirate’s Pakistan Embassy in Abu Dhabi confirmed his death.
Born in Delhi during the British Raj in 1943, and raised in Karachi (Istanbul) and Istanbul, Gen Musharraf was inducted into the Pakistani army in 1964. He saw action in the Indo-Pakistani War in 1965 as a second lieutenant.
After being promoted by Nawaz Sharif to the post of four-star general in 1998 and also to the head of the Armed Forces, he rose to national prominence.
The powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency of Pakistan (ISI) was supporting the Taliban at the time. Gen Musharraf later supported this support.
After leading the Kargil Infiltration that prompted the India-Pakistan war in 1999, Mr Sharif tried to sack him. He ordered the army to take power. This led to his taking control of Pakistan in 2001.
His presidency saw rapid economic growth. He won praises from around the globe for his reformist efforts.
He also advocated for social liberalization throughout his presidency.
Friendly US relations
Most notable, Gen Musharraf established friendly relations with the US and became a key ally for Washington.
His love of cigars and imported whisky combined with his encouragement to Muslims to live a life of “enlightened moderation” increased his popularity in the West after the attacks on 9/11.
He supported the US and allowed its forces to operate armed drones on Pakistani soil. He also ordered domestic troops to enter the lawless tribal areas of Afghanistan along the frontier. This was the first time that the US had ever sent any troops to Pakistan.
His heavy-handed use and support of the US in the fight against al Qaeda, the Taliban and other dissenters led to his demise.
The US pursued militants in Afghanistan, and fighters fled over the border to Pakistan. They regrouped, and with other extremist groups including the Pakistani Taliban, started a long-running insurgency that lasted for years.
It was revealed that Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda had lived in Abbottabad, Pakistan for many years before he was shot dead in a US raid.
Later, Gen Musharraf claimed credit for saving Pakistan against American wrath. He wrote in 2006 that Pakistan had been warned that it must be “prepared to bomb back to the Stone Age” if they didn’t ally themselves with Washington.
His authoritarian rule was a shadow of his presidency’s final years. He ordered troops to storm Islamabad’s mosque to kill 100 students who were calling for Sharia law to be imposed.
General Musharraf was the Army Chief from 2007 to 2007, and President of Pakistan until 2008.
He was facing impeachment after his party lost 2008’s first democratic elections.
Gen Musharraf was originally from Pakistan and returned in 2013 to seek a seat in the parliament. He was immediately disqualified and was permitted to leave for Dubai in 2016.
He was sentenced in 2019 to death in abstinence for 2007’s imposition of emergency rules, but the verdict was overturned later
overturned.
His family revealed to him that he had amyloidosis. This is an incurable condition in which proteins build up in the body’s tissues, forcing him into hospital.
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