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Pervez Musharraf speaks at a news conference in Islamabad, Pakistan, in November 2007.
Islamabad CNN  — 

Pakistan’s former President General Pervez Musharraf has died in Dubai after a prolonged illness at Dubai American Hospital, according to a statement from the Pakistani military. He was 79 years old.

In a statement sent to CNN, senior military officials expressed their “heartfelt condolences” on the “sad demise of General Pervez Musharraf.”

“May Allah bless the departed soul and give strength to the bereaved family,” the statement read.

Tributes and messages of condolences have poured in from Pakistani politicians.

Pakistan’s prime minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed his “condolences and sympathy to the family” of the former leader in a statement Sunday.

The chairman of Pakistan’s Senate, Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani, also expressed his “deep sorrow and grief,” while the Tehreek-e-Insaf party, led by former prime minister Imran Khan who was ousted in a vote of no confidence last year, said: “Our prayers and condolences go to his family and we share their grief.”

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Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf addresses an audience during a change-of-command ceremony in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, in 2007.
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Musharraf, as Pakistan's newly appointed chief of army staff, inspects a military honor guard in Rawalpindi in 1998.
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Musharraf talks to the media about a situation in Kashmir in June 1999.
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Musharraf, in the rear seat, arrives at the government television station in Islamabad, Pakistan, in October 1999 before addressing the nation. A week earlier, he led a coup against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and became head of government.
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Musharraf and his wife, Sehba, leave the Taj Mahal in Agra, India, after a tour in July 2001.
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People in Karachi, Pakistan, watch Musharraf address the nation in September 2001. Musharraf said the United States was in the grip of "grief, anger and vengeance" following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
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US Secretary of State Colin Powell appears at an Islamabad news conference with Musharraf in October 2001.
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US President George W. Bush speaks to the media with Musharraf after they met at the White House in February 2002.
Moshin Raza/Reuters
Musharraf and politician Imran Khan talk at a charity fundraising function in Lahore, Pakistan, in February 2002. Musharraf vowed to crack down on Islamic extremists in Pakistan, but attacks in India and the kidnapping of American journalist Daniel Pearl raised concern about a possible backlash.
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Workers sprinkle water on lawn in Lahore, near a portrait of Musharraf, in April 2002. A referendum was held that month on whether Musharraf would hold office for another five years. It passed by a wide margin.
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Pakistani women hold pictures of Musharraf as they stand outside a polling station in Lahore during the 2002 referendum.
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Musharraf holds his grandchild Hamza as he is joined by members of his family in Islamabad in January 2003. Musharraf and his wife, Sehba, had two children, Bilal and Ayla. At center is his mother, Zarin.
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Musharraf meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow in February 2003.
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Pakistani soldiers stand guard in Rawalpindi after there were suicide bomb blasts on Musharraf's motorcade in December 2003. Musharraf escaped unharmed, but more than a dozen people were killed in the attack and more were wounded. There were two assassination attempts against Musharraf that month.
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Musharraf sits next to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh while watching a cricket series between India and Pakistan in 2005.
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Musharraf addresses the United Nations General Assembly in February 2006.
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Musharraf and Chinese leader Hu Jintao inspect an honor guard in Beijing in February 2006.
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Musharraf holds a panda while visiting China in 2006.
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Bush speaks beside Musharraf and Afghan President Hamid Karzai after a White House meeting in September 2006.
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Musharraf attends the Pakistan National Day parade in March 2008. In November 2007, he declared a state of emergency, suspended Pakistan's constitution, replaced the chief judge and blacked out independent TV outlets.
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Musharraf administers the oath to newly elected Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani during a ceremony in Islamabad in March 2008. Under pressure from the West, Musharraf lifted the state of emergency and called elections a month earlier; his party fared badly.
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People in Lahore watch Musharraf's resignation speech on August 18, 2008. Musharraf announced his resignation in the face of an impending impeachment motion by the ruling coalition government.
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Lawyers stand over a Musharraf poster during a rally in Multan, Pakistan, in August 2008. Months later, Pakistan's Supreme Court ruled that Musharraf violated the constitution by unlawfully declaring emergency rule in November 2007. The court gave him seven days to appear and defend himself. Musharraf refused to answer the charges against him and fled Pakistan for Great Britain.
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Supporters of the All Pakistan Muslim League, a political party founded by Musharraf, watch him give a speech from Dubai in January 2012.
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Musharraf arrives at an anti-terrorism court in Islamabad in April 2013. A Pakistani court rejected Musharraf's request for a bail extension and ordered his arrest in a case he was facing over the detention of judges in 2007. In August 2013, a Pakistani court indicted Musharraf on murder charges in connection with the 2007 assassination of Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. He denied any involvement in Bhutto's death.
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Musharraf supporters carry placards during a protest in Karachi following a special court's verdict in December 2019. Musharraf, living in self-imposed exile in Dubai, was sentenced to death in absentia after a three-member special court in Islamabad convicted him of violating the constitution by unlawfully declaring emergency rule while he was in power. This ruling was overturned in 2020.
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Musharraf makes a video statement from a hospital bed in Dubai in December 2019. Musharraf dismissed his conviction and death sentence, saying the ruling was the result of a "personal vendetta."

The former leader, who had been living in self-imposed exile in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates since 2016, seized power from former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif – Shehbaz Sharif’s older brother – in a military coup in 1999 and appointed himself president in 2001, while remaining head of the army. He continued to lead Pakistan as president until 2008.

Musharraf became a key ally of the United States following the 9/11 terror attacks, and he tried to become an indispensable figure in combating Islamic extremism.

But his time in power was marred with controversy and he was accused of widespread human rights abuses and oppression.

His term was punctuated by two failed assassination attempts in 2003. In November 2007, he declared a state of emergency, suspended Pakistan’s constitution, replaced the chief judge and blacked out independent TV outlets.

Musharraf said he did so to stabilize the country and to fight rising Islamist extremism. The action drew sharp criticism from the United States and democracy advocates. Pakistanis openly called for his removal.

Under pressure from the West, Musharraf later lifted the state of emergency and called elections, held in February 2008, in which his party fared badly.

He stepped down in August 2008 after the governing coalition began taking steps to impeach him.

Musharraf then went into exile but returned to Pakistan in 2013 with the aim of running in the country’s national elections. Instead, his plans unraveled as he became entangled in a web of court cases relating to his time in power.

In 2019, he was sentenced to death in absentia for high treason. The ruling was later overturned.

Musharraf had been living in Dubai since March 2016, when Pakistan’s Supreme Court lifted a travel ban, allowing him to leave the country to seek medical treatment there.

He was married to Sehba Musharraf and had a son and a daughter.