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.
Pervez Musharraf led Pakistan for more than a decade after seizing power in 1999.
