Submit your Article

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, CNN reported.

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.

The former leader, who had been living in self-imposed exile in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, seized power from former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif 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, according to CNN.

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, CNN reported.

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.

Nagarik Unmukti Party lawmaker Arun Chaudhary, who was arrested from Kohalpur of Banke on Thursday, has been sent to jail. He was produced before the Kailali District Court on Friday. Around 12 years ago, the Kailali District Court had sentenced Chaudhary to six months in jail for torching a tractor. He was sent to the jail as per the same order. Chaudhary was apprehended while he was hiding in Chisapani area of Baijanath Rural Municipality-1, Banke. He was elected as a member of the House of Representatives from Kailali-2 by securing 21, 871 votes. Police said that Chaudhary was nabbed as he has yet to serve the jail term associated with a 12-year-old arson case.

The Nagarik Unmukti Party has served a 24-hour ultimatum to the government to release its lawmaker Arun Chaudhary. Issuing a statement on Thursday, party spokesperson Damodar Pandit condemned the arrest. Reminding that the Tharuhat protesters and the government had signed an agreement on August 19, 2009 to scrap all kinds of cases, the Nagarik Unmukti Party said that Chaudhary has been contesting all the elections since then. “Chaudhary was not on the run. He has contested local, provincial and federal elections four times since 2009. Why did this issue raised at this moment when he was elected as a federal lawmaker from the Nagarik Unmukti Party?” Pandit questioned. Saying that the arrest of Chaudhary is a discrimination against the Tharu Community, the party has demanded his release within 24 hours. Chaudhary was arrested from Tikapur, Kailali on Thursday. He was elected as a member of the House of Representatives from Kailali-2. Chaudhary, who was on the fugitive list of the police, was arrested this afternoon.      

Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Bimala Rai Paudyal left Kathmandu for Colombo, Sri Lanka today to attend the 75th Independence Day celebrations of Sri Lanka. The Minister will be participating in the 75th Independence Day functions as an honored guest in Colombo from February 3-4. She will be received by a Sri Lankan lawmaker at Bandaranaike International Airport (Colombo Airport). In Colombo, the Foreign Minister is scheduled to meet her counterpart M.U.M. Ali Sabry and attend the cultural festival ‘LankaraLanka’ to be organized by the Presidential Secretariat in Independence Square on February 3. The Foreign Minister will attend the 75th Independence Day Celebration functions to be organized at Galle Face Green. She will pay courtesy calls on President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena of Sri Lanka, and attend the reception hosted by the President at the President’s House February 4, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Foreign Minister is scheduled to return to Kathmandu on February 5.