Former Pakistani President Musharraf dies – Politics

Former Pakistani President and military ruler Pervez Musharraf is dead. He died in Dubai on Sunday after a long illness, his family and the Pakistani diplomatic mission in the United Arab Emirates confirmed. Musharraf was 79 years old. In 2018, Musharraf was diagnosed with the chronic metabolic disease amyloidosis. According to his family, he has been ventilated since last year.

In 1999, as army chief, the ex-general deposed then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a bloodless coup. This made him unpopular abroad, and Pakistan was provisionally excluded from the Commonwealth organization. He ruled Pakistan until 2008.

Musharraf regained international recognition for his reform-oriented course. After the attacks of September 11, 2001 in the USA, he became an important ally for them. He allowed the US to deploy armed drones from secret bases in Pakistan, killing thousands. In return, the US supports the Pakistani army with money. Although he officially sided with the United States, Musharraf left religious extremists largely unmolested for a long time. From the point of view of the influential Islamists in the country, Musharraf was still a traitor. Several assassinations and death threats by the Taliban followed.

Musharraf was sentenced to death for treason in 2019

In the later years of his presidency, Musharraf became increasingly authoritarian. In 2007, for example, hundreds of students who were demanding the introduction of Sharia law died when the military stormed a mosque in Islamabad. In the same year, the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto sparked a wave of violence in the country. Protests broke out, Musharraf postponed the elections and declared a state of emergency. In 2008, the first democratic elections were held in Pakistan in eleven years. Musharraf’s party lost and to avoid impeachment in Parliament he resigned and fled to London.

He has been living in the United Arab Emirates since 2016 after being allowed to leave Pakistan for medical reasons. In 2019 he was sentenced to death in absentia for high treason. A year later, however, the verdict was overturned.

Musharraf was born in New Delhi in 1943. After the partition of India, the Muslim family moved to Pakistan. His father was a diplomat. Musharraf spent seven years in Turkey as a child. His military career began at the Pakistani Military Academy. In 1964 he became an officer in an artillery regiment and fought against India in 1965 and 1971. In 1998 he was promoted to Army Chief. “I became known as a good leader,” he wrote in his autobiography. “I am proud to say that I have always been loved by everyone under my command.” He wore a uniform for almost 50 years.

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