Politics

Pakistan’s self-exiled dictator Musharraf laid to rest in Karachi

Islamabad, Feb 7 (EFE).- Pakistan’s former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, who died in Dubai during self-imposed exile, was laid to rest in the port city of Karachi on Tuesday.

The mortal remains of Musharraf, who ruled the nuclear power for nearly a decade, reached Karachi airport from Dubai last night by a special plane with his family onboard, a government official told EFE on the condition of anonymity.

The ex-president’s former spokesperson Muhammed Amjad told EFE that his funeral prayer was held under the state protocol with full military honors,

“The body of Gen Musharraf was also honored with a guard of honor,” Amjad said.

Amjad said the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Sahir Shamshad, former army chief Gen Qamar Bajwa along with other in-service and retired generals and officers of the armed forces offered the funeral prayer.

Several politicians also participated.

He was laid to rest in a military graveyard in Karachi.

“Upon arrival in Karachi, Musharaf’s body was moved to Combined Military Hospital last night with army protocol,” the official added.

The general died at a hospital in Dubai at the age of 79.

Since 2018, he was suffering from amyloidosis, a rare disease that builds up protein around vital organs, which alters the functioning of the tissues, leading to organ dysfunction.

His family had said in June 2022 that the leader was going through a difficult period where recovery was impossible and his organs were not functioning properly.

Musharraf was facing several court cases including treason for suspending the Pakistan constitution.

He was allowed to go to Dubai in 2016 for medical treatment after promising to return but he never did.

He seized power through a bloodless coup in 1999 and ruled the Muslim country until 2008, when he was convicted by a special court of treason, for imposing a state of emergency and ordering the arrest of dozens of judges.

A court sentenced the former dictator to death in 2019 – marking the first time in the country’s seven-decade-long history that a military dictator was handed the death penalty.

However, the decision was revoked by the Lahore High Court a year later. EFE

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