Former Pakistani President | Military President Pervez Musharraf died in Dubai

Profile photo – Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf died Sunday (Feb. 5) in Dubai, UAE

Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf died Sunday (Feb. 2) at the age of 5 after a lengthy hospital stay in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. He came to power in a bloodless coup and later reluctantly led Pakistan to help the international coalition in the U.S.-led campaign against al-Qaida terror in Afghanistan and the Taliban regime’s war in Afghanistan after the 79 attacks.

Musharraf was born in August 1943. A former special forces commando, Musharraf became Pakistan’s president in a coup in 8, leading the country through tensions with India, a nuclear proliferation scandal, and an Islamic extremist insurgency.

In November 2007, Musharraf, who is also chief of army staff, declared a state of emergency and dismissed nearly 11 judges, accused of unconstitutionality. On August 60, Musharraf resigned from the presidency under pressure. He has lived most of the time since then in the UK and the UAE. In March 2008, Musharraf returned home intending to run in the general election but was barred by the court. In November of the same year, Pakistan initiated proceedings against Musharraf on charges of treason. In March 8, Pakistan’s Supreme Court granted Musharraf medical treatment abroad.

The media reported that Mushara had twice dodged assassination attempts by Islamic extremist militants.

Musharraf’s family announced last June that he had been hospitalized in Dubai for a long time and suffered from “amyloidosis,” an incurable disease in which proteins accumulate in the body’s organs. Later, his family said he needed to take medication to treat multiple myeloma. Multiple myeloma can cause amyloidosis.

A spokesman for the Pakistani consulate in Dubai confirmed his death and said it was helping his family.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shareef and the military expressed condolences over his death.

After al-Qaida launched the 911 terrorist attack on the United States, then-U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told Musharraf that Pakistan either sided with the United States or opposed it. Musharraf later revealed that another U.S. official threatened to bomb Pakistan back into the “Stone Age” if it did not cooperate with the United States.

Musharraf chose to stand with the United States, announcing a month later his support for the United States in fighting “terrorism in any form, wherever it exists.”

Pakistan became a key logistical transit point for the U.S.-NATO war against al-Qaeda’s war in Afghanistan, even though Pakistani military intelligence had previously supported the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

Taliban and al-Qaida militants fled into Pakistan after U.S.-led international forces invaded Afghanistan, including bin Laden, who was cleared by U.S. special forces in 2011.

Despite billions of dollars in U.S. aid to Pakistan and Mr. Musharraf’s cooperation with the United States, Taliban militants are still growing in Pakistan. This made the United States suspicious and became a sticking point in U.S.-Pakistan relations.

Then-U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Anna Peterson said in a leaked 2009 diplomatic cable that after 911, President Musharraf made a strategic shift to abandon the Taliban and support the U.S. war on terror. However, neither side believes that the other will live up to the expectations stemming from that decision. The relationship has become a grudgingly acknowledged interdependence.

Separately, the media reported that a former Musharraf aide said he was known as a military dictator, but that the democracy under his leadership was stronger than ever. He allowed Pakistan to have free media that emphasized the diversity of views in Pakistan.