Former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf yesterday died after a long illness at a hospital in Dubai, after years in self-imposed exile.
Pakistan’s military and the country’s mission in the United Arab Emirates announced the death of the former army chief, 79, who was pushed from power in 2008.
“I can confirm that he passed away this morning,” said Shazia Siraj, spokesperson for Pakistan’s consulate in Dubai and embassy in Abu Dhabi.
Photo: AP
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, President Arif Alvi and the chiefs of the nation’s army, navy and air force each expressed their condolences.
A special flight is to be made to Dubai on Monday to bring Musharraf’s body back to Pakistan for burial, Geo News reported.
The former four-star general, who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999, oversaw rapid economic growth and attempted to usher in socially liberal values in the conservative Muslim country.
Musharraf had strong support for many years, his greatest threat being al-Qaeda and other militants who tried to kill him at least three times.
However, his heavy-handed use of the military to quell dissent, as well as his continued backing of the US in its fight against al-Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban ultimately led to his downfall.
“He is called a military dictator, but there has never been a stronger democratic system than that under him,” said former Musharraf aide Fawad Chaudhry, a leader of former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan’s party.
“He gave Pakistan a free media and he stressed on diversity of opinion in Pakistan,” Chaudhry said in a video message.
Musharraf joined what Washington called its “war on terror” after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the US. Pakistan provided US forces access to landlocked Afghanistan to chase down the al-Qaeda militants identified as being behind the plot.
This was contrary to Pakistan’s longstanding policy of support for the Taliban. This made Musharraf a target for militants in Pakistan, and caused him to lose support among conservative elements in Pakistan.
Allowed abroad for medical treatment even as he faced a treason case in Pakistan, Musharraf last flew to Dubai in 2016.
WAKE-UP CALL: Firms in the private sector were not taking basic precautions, despite the cyberthreats from China and Russia, a US cybersecurity official said A ninth US telecom firm has been confirmed to have been hacked as part of a sprawling Chinese espionage campaign that gave officials in Beijing access to private texts and telephone conversations of an unknown number of Americans, a top White House official said on Friday. Officials from the administration of US President Joe Biden this month said that at least eight telecommunications companies, as well as dozens of nations, had been affected by the Chinese hacking blitz known as Salt Typhoon. US Deputy National Security Adviser for Cyber and Emerging Technologies Anne Neuberger on Friday told reporters that a ninth victim
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged prisoners of war in the latest such swap that saw the release of hundreds of captives and was brokered with the help of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), officials said on Monday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that 189 Ukrainian prisoners, including military personnel, border guards and national guards — along with two civilians — were freed. He thanked the UAE for helping negotiate the exchange. The Russian Ministry of Defense said that 150 Russian troops were freed from captivity as part of the exchange in which each side released 150 people. The reason for the discrepancy in numbers
A shark attack off Egypt’s Red Sea coast killed a tourist and injured another, authorities said on Sunday, with an Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs source identifying both as Italian nationals. “Two foreigners were attacked by a shark in the northern Marsa Alam area, which led to the injury of one and the death of the other,” the Egyptian Ministry of Environment said in a statement. A source at the Italian foreign ministry said that the man killed was a 48-year-old resident of Rome. The injured man was 69 years old. They were both taken to hospital in Port Ghalib, about 50km north
MISSING: Prosecutors urged the company to move workers out of poor living conditions to hotels, but residents said many workers had already left the town Brazil has stopped issuing temporary work visas for BYD, the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday, in the wake of accusations that some workers at a site owned by the Chinese electric vehicle producer had been victims of human trafficking. The announcement came days after labor authorities said they found 163 Chinese workers who had been brought to Brazil irregularly in “slavery-like” conditions at the BYD factory construction site in the northeastern state of Bahia. The workers were employed by contractor Jinjiang Group, which has denied any wrongdoing. Later, the authorities also said the workers were victims of human trafficking,
RSS