Former putschist Pakistani leader dies at 79
General Pervez Musharraf, who ruled Pakistan from 1999 to 2008 with a military coup, died at the age of 79 in a hospital in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
It was stated that the body of Musharraf, who died in the American hospital where he was treated in the UAE, will be brought to Pakistan. Condolence messages from the Pakistani army on the death of Musharraf were published. Musharraf, who has been living in Dubai since 2016, where he went for treatment, was struggling with amyloidosis, which causes heart and liver failure. Musharraf was born on 11 August 1943 in New Delhi, the capital of India. His family moved to Karachi, Pakistan in 1947 after independence. Musharraf’s father served in the Pakistani embassy in Turkey from 1949 to 1956.
EDUCATION IN ISTANBUL
Musharraf, who was in Turkey during this time, received his first education in Karachi and Istanbul. Musharraf, who attended military training at the Turkish military academy after he started his military service in 1961, could speak Turkish fluently. After joining the army, Musharraf took part in the wars against India in 1965 and 1971. Musharraf was the last surviving military commander who took part in Pakistan’s wars against India in 1965 and 1971. In 1998, then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif dismissed him after he had problems with the head of the army, Cihangir Karamat. Nawaz Sharif, who did not prefer one of the three generals who could replace Karamat, promoted Musharraf, who had a lower rank, from lieutenant general to full general and appointed him to the head of the army.
KNOW THE SHERIFF
– However, after the conflict in Kargil in 1999, the relationship between Sharif and Musharraf fell apart. Discussions about who started the conflict and who was responsible for Pakistan’s withdrawal were also reflected to the public. On his return from Sri Lanka in October 1999, Musharraf’s plane was not allowed to land in Karachi. Meanwhile, Nawaz Sharif announced on television that the new army commander is Khavaja Ziyauddin. After these developments, the commanders under the general staff in Rawalpindi and the soldiers accompanying them started to move towards Islamabad. After the soldiers seized the airport in Karachi, Musharraf’s plane landed in the country. Musharraf declared a state of emergency on October 15, suspended the constitution and declared himself the ‘chief executive’. Nawaz Sharif, who was arrested in this process, He was sentenced to death in 2000 in the court established after the coup. However, Sharif was exiled to Saudi Arabia in 2001 at the initiative of the then Saudi King Fahd bin Abdulaziz.
He resigned in 2008
– Musharraf suspended the constitution and declared a state of emergency again in 2007 after opposition to a request for an extension of his mandate. Musharraf, who assumed the presidency from 2001 until 2008, resigned after the opposition and government at the time threatened to dismiss him. In 2013, Musharraf was charged with violating the constitution and treason. The trial, which has been repeatedly reopened and postponed since then, was concluded on 17 December 2019 and Musharraf was sentenced to death. Musharraf appealed to the constitutional court on 16 December 2020 against the death sentence. Musharraf became the second President in the country’s history to be sentenced to death, after Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Pakistan during Musharraf’s tenureHe participated in the US ‘war on terror’ in Afghanistan in 2001.
