The 79-year-old former President of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf, died on Sunday after a prolonged illness at a hospital in Dubai.
The retired four-star general was reportedly in critical condition and had been hospitalized for a couple of weeks because of complications caused by his ailment.
Former Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf Passes Away After Prolonged Illness
© Photo : Twitter/@imAlter_Ego
Born during the British Raj in Delhi on 11 August 1943, General Musharraf was raised in Karachi and Istanbul.
He was accepted by Pakistan's Military Academy in 1961 and was commissioned into the Pakistan Army's artillery in 1964. He was second-lieutenant during the India-Pakistani War in 1965 and 1971 and also played an active role in the Afghan civil war (1992 to 1996), encouraging Pakistani support for the Taliban*.
Having risen to become a four-star general in the Pakistan Army, Musharraf came to power as President in 1999 after the successful military takeover of the federal government of prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
General Musharraf proposed an agreement entitled the ‘Four-point solution’ regarding Kashmir and other pressure points between India and Pakistan.
The agreement was reportedly acceptable to the then Prime Minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, but collapsed only hours before the signing ceremony.
He went on to rule Pakistan until 2007 when he stepped down to avoid impeachment by the new parliament.
When former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was elected in 2013, he started proceedings against Musharraf accusing him of high treason for imposing emergency rule in 2007.
Despite the treason charges, General Musharraf moved to Dubai for medical treatment in 2016.
In 2019, Musharraf, who was undergoing treatment in Dubai, was convicted and sentenced to death by the Pakistani court for imposing emergency rule in 2007.
However, his death sentence was eventually suspended by the Lahore high court which declared Sharif government’s actions unconstitutional.
For the past few weeks, General Musharraf has reportedly been kept on life support because of his deteriorating health.
*under UN sanctions for terrorist activities