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Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who seized power in a bloodless coup and later led a reluctant Pakistan into aiding the U.S. war in Afghanistan against the Taliban, has died, officials said Sunday. He was 79.
Musharraf, a former special forces commando, became president through the last of a string of military coups that roiled Pakistan since its founding amid the bloody 1947 partition of India. He ruled the nuclear-armed state after his 1999 coup through tensions with India, an atomic proliferation scandal and an Islamic extremist insurgency. He stepped down in 2008 while facing possible impeachment.
Later in life, Musharraf lived in self-imposed exile in Dubai to avoid criminal charges, despite attempting a political comeback in 2012. But it wasn't to be as his poor health plagued his last years. He maintained a soldier's fatalism after avoiding a violent death that always seemed to be stalking him as Islamic militants twice targeted him for assassination.
"I have confronted death and defied it several times in the past because destiny and fate have always smiled on me," Musharraf once wrote. "I only pray that I have more than the proverbial nine lives of a cat."
Musharraf's family announced in June 2022 that he had been hospitalized for weeks in Dubai while suffering from amyloidosis, an incurable condition that sees proteins build up in the body's organs. They later said he also needed access to the drug daratumumab, which is used to treat multiple myeloma. That bone marrow cancer can cause amyloidosis.
Shazia Siraj, a spokeswoman for the Pakistani Consulate in Dubai, confirmed his death and said diplomats were providing support to his family.
The Pakistani military also offered its condolences as did Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, the younger brother of the prime minister Musharraf overthrew in 1999.
"May God give his family the courage to bear this loss," Sharif said.
Pakistan, a nation nearly twice the size of California along the Arabian Sea, is now home to 220 million people. But it would be its border with Afghanistan that would soon draw the U.S.'s attention and dominate Musharraf's life a little under two years after he seized power.
Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden launched the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks from Afghanistan, sheltered by the country's Taliban rulers. Musharraf knew what would come next.
"America was sure to react violently, like a wounded bear," he wrote in his autobiography. "If the perpetrator turned out to be al-Qaida, then that wounded bear would come charging straight toward us."
By Sept. 12, then-U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told Musharraf that Pakistan would either be "with us or against us." Musharraf said another American official threatened to bomb Pakistan "back into the Stone Age" if it chose the latter.
Musharraf chose the former. A month later, he stood by then-President George W. Bush at the Waldorf Astoria in New York to declare Pakistan's unwavering support to fight with the United States against "terrorism in all its forms wherever it exists."
Pakistan became a crucial transit point for NATO supplies headed to landlocked Afghanistan. That was the case even though Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency had backed the Taliban after it swept into power in Afghanistan in 1994. Prior to that, the CIA and others funnelled money and arms through the ISI to Islamic fighters battling the 1980s Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.
The U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan saw Taliban fighters flee over the border back into Pakistan, including bin Laden, whom the U.S. would kill in 2011 at a compound in Abbottabad. They regrouped and the offshoot Pakistani Taliban emerged, beginning a yearslong insurgency in the mountainous border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The CIA began flying armed Predator drones from Pakistan with Musharraf's blessing, using an airstrip built by the founding president of the United Arab Emirates for falconing in Pakistan's Balochistan province. The program helped beat back the militants but saw over 400 strikes in Pakistan alone kill at least 2,366 people -- including 245 civilians, according to the Washington-based New America Foundation think tank.
Though Pakistan under Musharraf launched these operations, the militants still thrived as billions of American dollars flowed into the nation. That led to suspicion that still plagues the U.S. relationship with Pakistan.
"After 9/11, then President Musharraf made a strategic shift to abandon the Taliban and support the U.S. in the war on terror, but neither side believes the other has lived up to expectations flowing from that decision," a 2009 U.S. cable from then-Ambassador Anne Patterson published by WikiLeaks said, describing what had become the diplomatic equivalent of a loveless marriage.
"The relationship is one of co-dependency we grudgingly admit -- Pakistan knows the U.S. cannot afford to walk away; the U.S. knows Pakistan cannot survive without our support."
But it would be Musharraf's life on the line. Militants tried to assassinate him twice in 2003 by targeting his convoy, first with a bomb planted on a bridge and then with car bombs. That second attack saw Musharraf's vehicle lifted into the air by the blast before touching the ground again. It raced to safety on just its rims, Musharraf pulling a Glock pistol in case he needed to fight his way out.
It wasn't until his wife, Sehba, saw the car covered in gore that the scale of the attack dawned on him.
"She is always calm in the face of danger," he recounted. But then, "she was screaming uncontrollably, hysterically."
Born Aug. 11, 1943, in New Delhi, India, Musharraf was the middle son of a diplomat. His family joined millions of other Muslims in fleeing westward when predominantly Hindu India and Islamic Pakistan split during independence from Britain in 1947. The partition saw hundreds of thousands of people killed in riots and fighting.
Musharraf entered the Pakistani army at age 18 and made his career there as Islamabad fought three wars against India. He'd launch his own attempt at capturing territory in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir in 1999 just before seizing power from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Sharif had ordered Musharraf's dismissal as the army chief flew home from a visit to Sri Lanka and denied his plane landing rights in Pakistan, even as it ran low on fuel. On the ground, the army took control and after he landed Musharraf took charge.
Yet as ruler, Musharraf nearly reached a deal with India on Kashmir, according to U.S. diplomats at the time. He also worked toward a rapprochement with Pakistan's longtime rival.
Another major scandal emerged under his rule when the world discovered that famed Pakistani nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan, long associated with the country's atomic bomb, had been selling centrifuge designs and other secrets to countries including Iran, Libya and North Korea, making tens of millions of dollars. Those designs helped Pyongyang to arm itself with a nuclear weapon, while centrifuges from Khan's designs still spin in Iran amid the collapse of Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers.
Musharraf said he suspected Khan but it wasn't until 2003 when then-CIA director George Tenet showed him detailed plans for a Pakistani centrifuge that the scientist had been selling that he realized the severity of what happened.
Khan would confess on state television in 2004 and Musharraf would pardon him, though he'd be confined to house arrest after that.
"For years, A.Q.'s lavish lifestyle and tales of his wealth, properties, corrupt practices and financial magnanimity at state expense were generally all too well known in Islamabad's social and government circles," Musharraf later wrote. "However, these were largely ignored. ... In hindsight that neglect was apparently a serious mistake."
Musharraf's domestic support eventually eroded. He held flawed elections in late 2002 -- only after changing the constitution to give himself sweeping powers to sack the prime minister and parliament. He then reneged on a promise to stand down as army chief by the end of 2004.
Militant anger toward Musharraf increased in 2007 when he ordered a raid against the Red Mosque in downtown Islamabad. It had become a sanctuary for militants opposed to Pakistan's support of the Afghan war. The weeklong operation killed over 100 people.
The incident severely damaged Musharraf's reputation among everyday citizens and earned him the undying hatred of militants who launched a series of punishing attacks following the raid.
Fearing the judiciary would block his continued rule, Musharraf fired the chief justice of Pakistan's Supreme Court. That triggered mass demonstrations.
Under pressure at home and abroad to restore civilian rule, Musharraf stepped down as army chief. Though he won another five-year presidential term, Musharraf faced a major crisis following former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's assassination in December 2007 at a campaign rally as she sought to become prime minister for the third time.
The public suspected Musharraf's hand in the killing, which he denied. A later United Nations report acknowledged the Pakistani Taliban was a main suspect in her slaying but warned that elements of Pakistan's intelligence services may have been involved.
Musharraf resigned as president in August 2008 after ruling coalition officials threatened to have him impeached for imposing emergency rule and firing judges.
"I hope the nation and the people will forgive my mistakes," Musharraf, struggling with his emotions, said in an hourlong televised address.
Afterward, he lived abroad in Dubai and London, attempting a political comeback in 2012. But Pakistan instead arrested the former general and put him under house arrest. He faced treason allegations over the Supreme Court debacle and other charges stemming from the Red Mosque raid and Bhutto's assassination.
The image of Musharraf being treated as a criminal suspect shocked Pakistan, where military generals long have been considered above the law. Pakistan allowed him to leave the country on bail to Dubai in 2016 for medical treatment and he remained there after facing a later-overturned death sentence.
But it suggested Pakistan may be ready to turn a corner in its history of military rule.
"Musharraf's resignation is a sad yet familiar story of hubris, this time in a soldier who never became a good politician," wrote Patterson, the U.S. ambassador, at the time.
"The good news is that the demonstrated strength of institutions that brought Musharraf down -- the media, free elections and civil society -- also provide some hope for Pakistan's future. It was these institutions that ironically became much stronger under his government."
Associated Press writer Rebecca Santana contributed to this report. Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
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Credit: ctvnews.ca. You can read the original article here.
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Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who seized power in a bloodless coup and later led a reluctant Pakistan into aiding the U.S. war in Afghanistan against the Taliban, has died, officials said Sunday. He was 79.
Musharraf, a former special forces commando, became president through the last of a string of military coups that roiled Pakistan since its founding amid the bloody 1947 partition of India. He ruled the nuclear-armed state after his 1999 coup through tensions with India, an atomic proliferation scandal and an Islamic extremist insurgency. He stepped down in 2008 while facing possible impeachment.
Later in life, Musharraf lived in self-imposed exile in Dubai to avoid criminal charges, despite attempting a political comeback in 2012. But it wasn’t to be as his poor health plagued his last years. He maintained a soldier’s fatalism after avoiding a violent death that always seemed to be stalking him as Islamic militants twice targeted him for assassination.
“I have confronted death and defied it several times in the past because destiny and fate have always smiled on me,” Musharraf once wrote. “I only pray that I have more than the proverbial nine lives of a cat.”
Musharraf’s family announced in June 2022 that he had been hospitalized for weeks in Dubai while suffering from amyloidosis, an incurable condition that sees proteins build up in the body’s organs.
“Going through a difficult stage where recovery is not possible and organs are malfunctioning,” the family said. They later said he also needed access to the drug daratumumab, which is used to treat multiple myeloma. That bone marrow cancer can cause amyloidosis.
Shazia Siraj, a spokeswoman for the Pakistani Consulate in Dubai, confirmed his death and said diplomats were providing support to his family. The Pakistani military also offered its condolences.
“May Allah bless the departed soul and give strength to bereaved family,” a military statement said.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif similarly offered his condolences in a short statement.
“May God give his family the courage to bear this loss,” Sharif said.
Pakistan, a nation nearly twice the size of California along the Arabian Sea, is now home to 220 million people. But it would be its border with Afghanistan that would soon draw the U.S.?s attention and dominate Musharraf’s life a little under two years after he seized power.
Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden launched the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks from Afghanistan, sheltered by the country’s Taliban rulers. Musharraf knew what would come next.
“America was sure to react violently, like a wounded bear,” he wrote in his autobiography. “If the perpetrator turned out to be al-Qaida, then that wounded bear would come charging straight toward us.”
By Sept. 12, then-U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told Musharraf that Pakistan would either be “with us or against us.” Musharraf said another American official threatened to bomb Pakistan ”back into the Stone Age” if it chose the latter.
Musharraf chose the former. A month later, he stood by then-President George W. Bush at the Waldorf Astoria in New York to declare Pakistan’s unwavering support to fight with the United States against “terrorism in all its forms wherever it exists.”
Pakistan became a crucial transit point for NATO supplies headed to landlocked Afghanistan. That was the case even though Pakistan’s powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency had backed the Taliban after it swept into power in Afghanistan in 1994. Prior to that, the CIA and others funneled money and arms through the ISI to Islamic fighters battling the 1980s Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.
The U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan saw Taliban fighters flee over the border back into Pakistan, including bin Laden, whom the U.S. would kill in 2011 at a compound in Abbottabad. They regrouped and the offshoot Pakistani Taliban emerged, beginning a yearslong insurgency in the mountainous border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The CIA began flying armed Predator drones from Pakistan with Musharraf’s blessing, using an airstrip built by the founding president of the United Arab Emirates for falconing in Pakistan’s Balochistan province. The program helped beat back the militants but saw over 400 strikes in Pakistan alone kill at least 2,366 people– including 245 civilians, according to the Washington-based New America Foundation think tank.
Though Pakistan under Musharraf launched these operations, the militants still thrived as billions of American dollars flowed into the nation. That led to suspicion that still plagues the U.S. relationship with Pakistan.
“After 9/11, then President Musharraf made a strategic shift to abandon the Taliban and support the U.S. in the war on terror, but neither side believes the other has lived up to expectations flowing from that decision,” a 2009 U.S. cable from then-Ambassador Anne Patterson published by WikiLeaks said, describing what had become the diplomatic equivalent of a loveless marriage.
“The relationship is one of co-dependency we grudgingly admit– Pakistan knows the U.S. cannot afford to walk away; the U.S. knows Pakistan cannot survive without our support.”
But it would be Musharraf’s life on the line. Militants tried to assassinate him twice in 2003 by targeting his convoy, first with a bomb planted on a bridge and then with car bombs. That second attack saw Musharraf’s vehicle lifted into the air by the blast before touching the ground again. It raced to safety on just its rims, Musharraf pulling a Glock pistol in case he needed to fight his way out.
It wasn’t until his wife, Sehba, saw the car covered in gore that the scale of the attack dawned on him.
“She is always calm in the face of danger,” he recounted. But then, “she was screaming uncontrollably, hysterically.”
Born Aug. 11, 1943, in New Delhi, India, Musharraf was the middle son of a diplomat. His family joined millions of other Muslims in fleeing westward when predominantly Hindu India and Islamic Pakistan split during independence from Britain in 1947. The partition saw hundreds of thousands of people killed in riots and fighting.
Musharraf entered the Pakistani army at age 18 and made his career there as Islamabad fought three wars against India. He’d launch his own attempt at seizing territory in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir in 1999 just before seizing power from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Sharif had ordered Musharraf’s dismissal as the army chief flew home from a visit to Sri Lanka and denied his plane landing rights in Pakistan, even as it ran low on fuel. On the ground, the army seized control and after he landed Musharraf took charge.
Yet as ruler, Musharraf nearly reached a deal with India on Kashmir, according to U.S. diplomats at the time. He also worked toward a rapprochement with Pakistan’s longtime rival.
Another major scandal emerged under his rule when the world discovered that famed Pakistani nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan, long associated with the country’s atomic bomb, had been selling centrifuge designs and other secrets to countries including Iran, Libya and North Korea, making tens of millions of dollars. Those designs helped Pyongyang to arm itself with a nuclear weapon, while centrifuges from Khan’s designs still spin in Iran amid the collapse of Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers.
Musharraf said he suspected Khan but it wasn’t until 2003 when then-CIA director George Tenet showed him detailed plans for a Pakistani centrifuge that the scientist had been selling that he realized the severity of what happened.
Khan would confess on state television in 2004 and Musharraf would pardon him, though he’d be confined to house arrest after that.
“For years, A.Q.’s lavish lifestyle and tales of his wealth, properties, corrupt practices and financial magnanimity at state expense were generally all too well known in Islamabad’s social and government circles,” Musharraf later wrote. “However, these were largely ignored. … In hindsight that neglect was apparently a serious mistake.”
Musharraf’s domestic support eventually eroded. He held flawed elections in late 2002 _ only after changing the constitution to give himself sweeping powers to sack the prime minister and parliament. He then reneged on a promise to stand down as army chief by the end of 2004.
Militant anger toward Musharraf increased in 2007 when he ordered a raid against the Red Mosque in downtown Islamabad. It had become a sanctuary for militants opposed to Pakistan’s support of the Afghan war. The weeklong operation killed over 100 people.
The incident severely damaged Musharraf’s reputation among everyday citizens and earned him the undying hatred of militants who launched a series of punishing attacks following the raid.
Fearing the judiciary would block his continued rule, Musharraf fired the chief justice of Pakistan’s Supreme Court. That triggered mass demonstrations.
Under pressure at home and abroad to restore civilian rule, Musharraf stepped down as army chief. Though he won another five-year presidential term, Musharraf faced a major crisis following former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s assassination in December 2007 at a campaign rally as she sought to become prime minister for the third time.
The public suspected Musharraf’s hand in the killing, which he denied. A later United Nations report acknowledged the Pakistani Taliban was a main suspect in her slaying but warned that elements of Pakistan’s intelligence services may have been involved.
Musharraf resigned as president in August 2008 after ruling coalition officials threatened to have him impeached for imposing emergency rule and firing judges.
“I hope the nation and the people will forgive my mistakes,” Musharraf, struggling with his emotions, said in an hourlong televised address.
Afterward, he lived abroad in Dubai and London, attempting a political comeback in 2012. But Pakistan instead arrested the former general and put him under house arrest. He faced treason allegations over the Supreme Court debacle and other charges stemming from the Red Mosque raid and Bhutto’s assassination.
The image of Musharraf being treated as a criminal suspect shocked Pakistan, where military generals long have been considered above the law. Pakistan allowed him to leave the country on bail to Dubai in 2016 for medical treatment and he remained there after facing a later-overturned death sentence.
But it suggested Pakistan may be ready to turn a corner in its history of military rule.
“Musharraf’s resignation is a sad yet familiar story of hubris, this time in a soldier who never became a good politician,” wrote Patterson, the U.S. ambassador, at the time.
“The good news is that the demonstrated strength of institutions that brought Musharraf down –the media, free elections and civil society– also provide some hope for Pakistan’s future. It was these institutions that ironically became much stronger under his government.”
Credit: globalnews.ca. You can read the original article here.
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Islamabad: Pervez Musharraf, the four-star general who ruled Pakistan for nearly a decade after seizing power in a bloodless coup in 1999, has died aged 79.
Musharraf died in Dubai hospital following a long illness after spending years in self-imposed exile.
Pakistan’s military and the country’s mission in the United Arab Emirates announced the death of the former army chief, who was pushed from power in 2008.
“I can confirm that he passed away this morning,” Shazia Siraj, spokesperson for Pakistan’s consulate in Dubai and embassy in Abu Dhabi, told Reuters.
The chiefs of Pakistan’s army, navy and air force expressed condolences on his death, the public relations wing of the military said.
President Arif Alvi expressed condolences in a statement.
A special flight will be made to Dubai on Monday to return Musharraf’s body back to Pakistan for burial, local TV channel Geo News reported.
The former four-star general, who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999, oversaw rapid economic growth and attempted to usher in socially liberal values in the conservative Muslim country.
Musharraf enjoyed strong support for many years, with his greatest threat al-Qaeda and other militant Islamists who tried to kill him at least three times.
But his heavy-handed use of the military to quell dissent as well as his continued backing of the United States in its fight against al-Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban ultimately led to his downfall.
In his early years in government, Musharraf won plaudits internationally for his reformist efforts, pushing through legislation to protect the rights of women and allowing private news channels to operate for the first time.
His penchant for cigars and imported whisky and his calls for Muslims to adopt a lifestyle of “enlightened moderation” increased his appeal in the West in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.
He became one of Washington’s most important allies after the attacks, allowing US forces to operate armed drones from secret bases on Pakistani soil that killed thousands and ordering domestic troops into the country’s lawless tribal areas along the Afghanistan frontier for the first time Pakistan’s history.
That helped legitimise his rule overseas but also helped plunge Pakistan into a bloody war against local extremist militant groups.
Later in 2007, a suicide attack that assassinated opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, triggered waves of violence. His efforts to strong-arm the judiciary also led to protests and a besieged Musharraf postponed elections and declared a state of emergency.
In 2008, the country’s first democratic elections in 11 years were held. Musharraf’s party lost and facing impeachment by parliament, he resigned the presidency and fled to London.
He returned to Pakistan in 2013 to run for a seat in parliament but was immediately disqualified. He was allowed to leave for Dubai in 2016.
In 2019, a court sentenced him to death in absentia for the 2007 imposition of emergency rule, but the verdict was later overturned.
Credit: smh.com.au. You can read the original article here.
Pakistan's former president General Pervez Musharraf, who seized power in a coup in 1999, has died aged 79.
The former leader - who was president between 2001 and 2008 - died in Dubai after a long illness, a statement from the country's army said.
He had survived numerous assassination attempts, and found himself on the front line of the struggle between militant Islamists and the West.
He supported the US "war on terror" after 9/11 despite domestic opposition.
In 2008 he suffered defeat in the polls and left the country six months later.
When he returned in 2013 to try to contest the election, he was arrested and barred from standing. He was charged with high treason and was sentenced to death in absentia only for the decision to be overturned less than a month later.
He left Pakistan for Dubai in 2016 to seek medical treatment and had been living in exile in the country ever since.
Musharraf died in hospital on Sunday morning. His body will be flown back from the United Arab Emirates to Pakistan on a special flight after his family submitted an application to do so, local TV channel Geo News reports.
In the statement Pakistan's military expressed its "heartfelt condolences" and added: "May Allah bless the departed soul and give strength to bereaved family."
Pakistan's President Arif Alvi prayed "for eternal rest of the departed soul and courage to the bereaved family to bear this loss."
Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also expressed his condolences, as did the country's military leaders.
Musharraf's rule was characterised by extremes. He was credited by some with turning around the economic fortunes of the country while leader.
He was embroiled in a number of court cases following his loss of power, including accusations of failing to provide adequate security for former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, whose assassination by the Taliban in 2007 shocked Pakistan and the world.
And his career ultimately ended in disgrace and arrest, when he was sentenced to death in absentia for treason in 2019. Though that sentencing was later reversed, he never returned to Pakistan.
Despite these events, Fawad Chaudhury, a former aide of Musharraf and currently a senior leader of former Prime Minister Imran Khan's party, praised Musharraf and the influence he had on Pakistan.
"He is called a military dictator, but there has never been a stronger democratic system than that under him... Pervez Musharraf led Pakistan at a very difficult time, and Pakistanis believe the era of his reign was one of the best in Pakistan's history," Mr Chaudhury said in comments cited by Reuters.
However, the CEO of Islamabad-based think tank Tabadlab, Mosharraf Zaidi, said Musharraf was responsible for the "destruction of Pakistan" during his rule.
His time in power also divided opinion in India.
Musharraf's involvement while serving as the leader of the country's army in the Kargil conflict in May 1999 - when Pakistani generals secretly ordered an operation to occupy heights in Kargil on the Indian side - caused many in India to view him as an adversary.
But in one Indian politician's eyes, Musharraf redeemed himself during his presidency. "Once an implacable foe of India, he became a real force for peace 2002-2007," Shashi Tharoor, a former UN diplomat, said.
Mr Tharoor said he met Musharraf annually in those years at the UN, and described him as "smart, engaging and clear in his strategic thinking".
Credit: bbc.com. You can read the original article here.
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.”
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.
Credit: cnn.com. You can read the original article here.
Beyoncé is back! The singer has officially announced that she will be going back out on tour this spring – with six dates in the UK.
On Wednesday (1 February), the “Break My Soul” singer announced live dates for her Renaissance World Tour, following the 2022 release of her critically acclaimed album of the same name.
You can read The Independent’s review of Renaissance here.
Sharing a picture of herself riding a horse, Beyoncé wrote: “RENAISSANCE WORLD TOUR 2023.”
The tour will kick off in Europe in May, with UK dates in Cardiff, Edinburgh, Sunderland and London. The 41-year-old hasn’t been on tour since 2018.
The remaining dates for Europe, Canada and the US can be found here.
Details are yet to be released about when tickets for the Renaissance World Tour will go on sale.
The ticket links on Beyoncé’s website simply read “Soon”. We will update this as more information becomes available.
In January, the singer gave her first live performance in more than four years at a private party for the launch of the Atlantis the Royal hotel in Dubai.
Originally teased by the hotel to be part of “a weekend where your dreams become your destination”, Beyoncé’s surprise set consisted of 19 songs spanning her career, including a surprise duet of “Brown Skin Girl” with her 11-year-old daughter, Blue Ivy.
She did not, however, perform any material from Renaissance.
Beyoncé’s performance at the luxury Dubai resort was deemed controversial by some, due to strict laws on homosexuality in the United Arab Emirates.
She was defended by her father Mathew Knowles, who said that the singer had “united a really diverse crowd with her incredible performance overseas, bringing people closer, as she does best”.
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Credit: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/beyonce-tour-dates-when-may-june-b2273637.html
Beyoncé has shared details of her first tour in seven years. The hugely anticipated Renaissance world tour will begin on 10 May at Stockholm’s Friends Arena before working its way through stadiums in Europe and the UK over the course of spring and summer. The tour’s North American leg starts on 7 July in Toronto, and continues through to the autumn, with a concluding date set for 27 September at New Orleans’ Caesars Superdome.
The Renaissance world tour includes an extensive run of UK dates: Beyoncé will perform on 29 and 30 May at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with Cardiff, Edinburgh and Sunderland set for 17 May, 20 May and 23 May respectively. Tickets for all dates will be available from Beyoncé’s website.
Beyoncé’s last tour was 2016’s Formation world tour. That show, in support of her sixth album Lemonade, saw her perform in Sunderland, Cardiff, London, Manchester and Glasgow, totalling over 300,000 tickets in the UK alone.
The Renaissance world tour supports Beyoncé’s 2022 album of the same name. Widely hailed as a career-best, the album was acclaimed for its pivot to club styles such as house and disco, as well as for a credits list that highlighted LGBTQ+ Black pioneers such as Honey Dijon, Kevin Aviance, Ts Madison and Big Freedia. Voted the best album of 2022 by Guardian music critics, it debuted at No 1 on the UK and US charts, and has been certified gold in the UK, indicating sales in excess of 100,000. Writing about the album in an end-of-year essay, Jenessa Williams said that Renaissance “sees Beyoncé at her most lyrically playful, political by destiny rather than design.”
Although Renaissance was lauded for its platforming of LGBTQ+ artists upon release, Beyoncé has faced criticism this year for choosing to perform at the private opening of luxury Dubai hotel Atlantis the Royal, given the United Arab Emirates’ criminalisation of homosexuality and allegations that migrant workers in the country face conditions amounting to indentured servitude.
Jason Okundaye wrote for the Guardian: “the issue of migrant labour adds an additional dimension to conversations on the ethics of concerts.”
“It’s as much about where Beyoncé performs as who she’s performed for and who she’s accepted money from,” he wrote. “Renaissance’s lead single, Break My Soul, may have been billed as the pro-worker Great Resignation anthem of last summer, but it is muted when money talks.”
Credit: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/feb/01/beyonce-announces-renaissance-world-tour
Following the US Federal Reserve's 75 bps interest rate hikes to combat inflation, central banks across the globe have also continued raising rates. On Thursday, central banks in Europe and Asia tightened rates.
Norway’s central bank, which is confronting inflation near a three-decade high, raised its key benchmark on Thursday by 50 basis points to 2.25 per cent.
The Swiss National Bank on Thursday raised its benchmark interest rate by 75 basis points to 0.5 per cent from a negative 0.25 per cent.
Inflation in Switzerland hit 3.5 per cent last month, its highest rate in three decades, leading to the rate hike.
South Africa’s central bank raised its repurchase rate by 75 bps to 6.25 per cent from 5.5 per cent. The rise in interest rate took the benchmark to its January 2020 level.
The United Arab Emirates raised its base rate by 75 bps to 3.15 per cent from 2.40 per cent, effective from 22 September.
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Credit: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/us/why-is-hellmanns-mayonnaise-discontinued-in-south-africa-know-everything-here/articleshow/97501327.cms
Gautam Adani has won a vote of confidence from a $400 million investment by International Holding Co. (IHC)—an Abu Dhabi-based conglomerate controlled by a key member of the United Arab Emirates’ royal family—into Adani Enterprises.
The investment—which accounts for about 16% of the $2.5 billion Adani’s flagship company aims to raise from its follow-on share sale—is a welcome reprieve for the Indian tycoon, who has seen about $70 billion of his business empire’s market value wiped out this month following a scathing report by Hindenburg Research. The share sale was fully subscribed despite the U.S.-based short seller accusing the Adani Group of stock manipulation and accounting fraud.
This is IHC’s second investment deal with the group after investing $2 billion in April last year across Adani Enterprises and its clean energy companies such as Adani Green Energy and Adani Transmission.
“Our interest in Adani Group is driven by our confidence and belief in the fundamentals of Adani Enterprises,” Syed Basar Shueb, CEO of IHC, said in a statement. “We see a strong potential for growth from a long-term perspective and added value to our shareholders."
The company said last week that it was “evaluating the relevant provisions” under both U.S. and Indian laws for “remedial and punitive action against Hindenburg Research.” The short seller’s report published on January 24 triggered a sell off in Adani Group companies and slashed founder Gautam Adani’s net worth by 30% to $88 billion, according to Forbes’ estimates. He is now ranked the world’s eighth richest person after holding the No. 3 spot.
Credit: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanburgos/2023/01/31/billionaire-gautam-adani-gets-vote-of-confidence-from-abu-dhabi-firms-400-million-investment/
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(Bloomberg) -- Adani Group companies rebounded in the dollar bond market after some dropped to record lows the day before, following a vote of confidence in the Indian conglomerate from Abu Dhabi’s International Holding Co.
A note from one of the group’s key units, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd., rose 3.4 cents on the dollar to 68.8 cents as of 9:47 a.m. in Hong Kong. That pares its drop since US-based short seller Hindenburg Research last week alleged “accounting fraud” at Adani group to about 10 cents. At least five other Adani group bonds rose by more than 1 cent on Tuesday.
Abu Dhabi’s International Holding, which is controlled by a key member the emirate’s royal family royal family, voiced its support for Adani group, saying it will invest about $400 million in a follow-on share sale by Adani Enterprises Ltd. IHC is at the forefront of a drive to diversify the United Arab Emirates economy. The $2.5 billion share sale at Adani, scheduled to close Tuesday, represents a key test of broader investor sentiment after the Hindenburg report.
Billionaire Gautam Adani is seeking to restore trust in his ports-to-power business following the Hindenburg report. The share sale was supposed to cement his legacy and open his empire to individual investors and broader India. Instead, he’s had to rely on funds from existing investors expressing their support.
Credit: https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/adani-dollar-bonds-rally-from-record-lows-after-uae-royal-boost-1.1877022
