Musharraf breathes his last, burial today; UAE leaders express grief
DUBAI: Pakistan’s former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf died in Dubai on Sunday ater a prolonged illness. He was 79.
President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan has sent a cable of condolences to President of Pakistan, Arif Alvi, over the death of Pervez Musharraf.
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, has dispatched similar cable of condolences to President Alvi.
Musharraf, a former four-star general who took power in 1999, died in a hospital in Dubai. His body will be flown to Pakistan for burial on Monday, Geo News reported.
Shazia Siraj, a spokeswoman for the Pakistani Consulate in Dubai, confirmed his death and said diplomats were providing support to his family.
One of Musharraf’s former political aides told Geo News that he would either be buried in Karachi, his family’s hometown, or Rawalpindi, home to the army’s headquarters.
Shortly ater Musharraf death was officially confirmed, politicians, journalists, analysts, cricketers, social activists and political commentators took to social media to voice their sorrow as well as shed light on his near-decade rule.
CONDOLENCE MESSAGES: Aside from the condolence messages which came from the civilian and military leadership, people of all stripes — even from across the border — had something to say about the late army general.
President Alvi offered prayers for the former army chief and extended condolences to the former president’s family.
“I offer my condolences to the family of General Pervez Musharraf,” tweeted Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif. “May the departed soul rest in peace.”
Senior military chiefs “express hearfelt condolences on sad demise of General Pervez Musharraf”, a brief statement released by the military’s media wing said.
The four-star general died in hospital in Dubai on Sunday morning, according to media reports and a senior security official who spoke to media.
“I can confirm that the late general breathed his last in Dubai this morning ... He is no more,” the official, who asked not to be named, told reporters.
A Pakistan air force source told media that Musharraf’s body would be flown back to Pakistan on Monday, aboard a civilian liner or UAE air force jet.
Shashi Tharoor, a member of parliament from India’s main opposition Congress party, tweeted “once an implacable foe of India, he became a real force for peace 2002-2007.”
RARE DISEASE: Musharraf had been suffering from a rare disease known as amyloidosis and last summer his family said he had no prospect of recovery.
Musharraf ruled Pakistan for nearly nine years, starting when then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif atempted to remove him as army chief.
He was credited with atracting foreign investment to Pakistan, which saw the strongest economic growth in nearly 30 years during his rule, and he enjoyed the support of the military and Pakistanis who backed his crackdown against militant groups.
But his decade-long rule was also marred by a heavy-handed approach to dissent, which included arresting rivals such as a current leader and the imposing of an almost six-week long state of emergency in which he suspended the constitution and censored the media.
“He failed to build on his early popularity to effect sustainable economic and political reforms and became a captive of military power and vested interests,” said Shuja Nawaz, author of several books on Pakistan’s military and a fellow at US think-tank Atlantic Council.
A graduate from a Christian high school, Musharraf was keen for Pakistan to embrace liberal Islam, an approach that increased his appeal in the West following the 9/11 atacks on the United States.
Musharraf joined what Washington called its “war on terror,” giving US forces ground and air access into landlocked Afghanistan to chase down Al Qaeda militants.
This decision contradicted Pakistan’s longstanding support for the Taliban, which at that point controlled Afghanistan, and made Musharraf a target for domestic militant groups. He survived at least four assassination atempts.
In a 2006 memoir, Musharraf said he “saved” Pakistan by joining the campaign against Al Qaeda. He also successfully lobbied the administration of former US president George W. Bush to pour money into the nuclear-armed nation’s military, which remains one of the most powerful in South Asia.
Domestically, Musharraf’s iron-fist rule created turmoil. The state of emergency in 2007 aimed to quell protests triggered by a clampdown on the judiciary and the media. That same year, his government was criticised for not providing enough security ahead of the assassination by the Pakistani Taliban of former prime minister Benazir Bhuto, a political rival killed while on campaign for national elections.
ISLAMABAD: General (retd) Pervez Musharraf remained the longest-serving president of Pakistan until forced to step down in 2008.
He was the fourth military leader of Pakistan, who grabbed power in 1999 by toppling the Nawaz Sharif-led government in a coup d’état.
When out of power, Musharraf was charged with high treason by a court in 2014 and sentenced to death in absentia in 2019. However, a year later, the death sentence was overturned by a high court.
A timeline of the highlights of his life makes an instructive reading. In 1943, Musharraf was born on Aug.11, 1943, in Delhi, British India, to Urdu speaking parents who later migrated to Pakistan. In 1961, he joined the Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul.
In 1998, he was promoted to general and appointed the chief of army staff by then prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
In 1999, Musharraf removed Sharif’s government in a bloodless coup, before announcing a state of emergency and suspending the constitution. In 2001, the army chief declared himself the president of Pakistan.
In 2002, Musharraf reinstated the Constitution but added a provision that gave him legal cover to stay president for another five years. The same year, a controversial parliamentary election was held in Pakistan under Musharraf’s military rule.
In 2003, Musharraf survived two separate assassination atempts by terrorists. In 2007, he sacked the then chief justice of the Supreme Court, Itikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, initiating a countrywide protest movement. The same year, his political rivals, Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhuto, returned to Pakistan from exile to contest the scheduled elections. Musharraf imposed a state of emergency and suspended the Constitution once again.
In 2008, Musharraf’s parliamentary party lost the national polls, forcing him to resign to avoid impeachment. He then let Pakistan for the United Kingdom. In 2010, he launched his own political party, the All Pakistan Muslim League. In 2013, he returned to Pakistan to contest the general elections. In 2014, he was charged with high treason. In 2016, Musharraf was allowed to travel to the Gulf country in order to seek medical atention overseas. He never returned to Pakistan.
In 2019, a special court found Musharraf guilty of high treason and sentenced him in absentia to death. In 2020, a high court suspended the sentence awarded to Musharraf. In 2022, reports of his death circulated. However, they were denied by his party, which confirmed that he was being treated for amyloidosis.