Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, who came to power in a bloodless coup in 1999, has died in a Dubai hospital at the age of 79.
The Pakistan Army said he died on Sunday morning after a long illness.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, President Arif Alvi and leaders of the Pakistani army, navy and air force expressed their condolences on his death.
His body will be transported from Dubai to Pakistan for burial, according to local TV channel Geo News.
Musharraf has been living in self-imposed exile in Dubai since 2016.
He suffered from amyloidosis, a rare disease caused by the accumulation of an abnormal protein in organs and tissues throughout the body.
The former president and four-star military general seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999.
He has enjoyed strong support for years, but has also been the target of at least three assassination attempts by his main threat, al-Qaeda and other Islamist militants.
Mr. Musharraf supported the “war on terror” after the 9/11 attacks on the US, when Pakistan gave US forces ground and air access to landlocked Afghanistan to hunt down the al-Qaeda fighters behind it.
His alliance with the US in the pursuit of al-Qaeda ran counter to Pakistan’s longstanding policy of supporting the Taliban, who then and now control neighboring Afghanistan. This stance made Musharraf a target for militants in Pakistan and lost the support of conservative factions in Pakistan.
He lost in the polls in 2008 and left the country six months later.
When he returned in 2013, he was arrested and banned from running. He was also accused of treason and sentenced to death, but the sentence was later overturned.
He traveled to Dubai for treatment in 2016 despite allegations of treason at the time and never returned.
Source: I News
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