Former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf dies: army

Source: Peninsula

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf salutes as he arrives for the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) meeting in Mecca December 8, 2005. Reuters/Zainal Abd Halim/File Photo

Islamabad: Pakistan’s former military ruler Pervez Musharraf has died in Dubai aged 79 after a long illness, the army said Sunday.

Senior military chiefs “express heartfelt condolences on sad demise of General Pervez Musharraf”, a brief statement released by the military’s media wing said. “May Allah bless the departed soul and give strength to bereaved family.”

The four-star general died in hospital in Dubai on Sunday morning, according to media reports and a senior security official who spoke to AFP.

“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 AFP.

Musharraf seized power in 1999 in a bloodless coup after the then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif tried to dismiss him as army chief, having appointed him above more senior officers a year earlier.

In more than seven years in office, he oversaw a stint of economic growth while dodging at least three assassination attempts.

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