Afghan Voice Agency (AVA): Geo news channel announced that 79-year-old Parvez Musharraf was admitted to the American Hospital in Dubai due to illness.
Pervez Musharraf was born on August 11, 1943 in New Delhi, India. He took power in a coup in 1999 and was the president of Pakistan from 2001 to 2008.
Musharraf moved with his family from New Delhi to Karachi in 1947, when Pakistan seceded from India. He was the son of a professional diplomat and lived in Turkey during the years 1949-1956.
He joined the army in 1964, graduated from the Army Command and Staff College in Quetta and attended the Royal College of Defense Studies in London. He held a number of appointments in artillery, infantry and commando units and also taught at the Staff College in Quetta and at the War Wing of the National Defense College.
Musharraf participated in the 1965 and 1971 wars between Pakistan and India. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appointed him as the head of the armed forces in October 1998. Musharraf is believed to have played a key role in the invasion of the Indian-controlled part of the disputed region of Kashmir in the summer of 1999. Under international pressure, Sharif later ordered troops to withdraw to Pakistani-controlled territory, which angered the army. On October 12, 1999, when Musharraf was out of the country, Sharif fired him and tried to prevent Musharraf's plane from landing at Karachi airport. However, the armed forces took control of the airport and other government facilities, ousting Sharif and paving the way for Musharraf to head a military government.
Although Musharraf generally held moderate views and promised an eventual return to civilian rule, he suspended the constitution and dissolved parliament. He formed the National Security Council, which consisted of civilian and military personnel, to govern Pakistan in the interim period. He assumed the presidency in early 2001 and later tried to reach an agreement with India over the Kashmir region. After the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States and the subsequent US invasion of Afghanistan later that year, the US government forged close ties with Musharraf in an effort to root out TTP extremists in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region.