File photo. Ben Stansall—AFP
The body of Pervez Musharraf, who died in Dubai on Sunday morning after a prolonged illness, will be repatriated to Pakistan on Monday (today), with senior officials saying a burial is expected later in the day.
Musharraf’s body was initially scheduled to depart the U.A.E. at 11:30 a.m. Pakistan Standard Time, but local media reported there were some delays and a “special jet” would leave for the country in the afternoon. The Pakistani embassy in the U.A.E. has already issued a no-objection certificate for the repatriation of Musharraf’s body to Pakistan at the request of his family. The former military ruler’s wife, Sehba Musharraf, son Bilal, and daughter Ayla would travel with the body to bring him back to Pakistan.
The former president will be laid to rest in Karachi, according to family sources, though the plane carrying his body would land in Rawalpindi.
Musharraf’s All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) announced he was suffering from a rare medical condition, amyloidosis, in 2018. His condition has steadily deteriorated since then, with a hospitalization in June 2022 triggering rumors of his death. However, his family rebutted those claims in a statement issued at the time. “Going through a difficult stage where recovery is not possible and organs are malfunctioning. Pray for ease in his daily living,” they wrote on his official Twitter account.
The former Army chief left Pakistan for medical treatment in March 2016, two years after he was indicted by a court for suspending the Constitution on Nov. 3, 2007. A special court formed to hear the high treason case sentenced him to death in absentia in 2019, though the decision was later suspended by a bench of the Lahore High Court.