Pakistan's former president General Pervez Musharraf has died aged 79 after a long illness, a statement from the country's army said on Sunday.

Musharraf, who has been in a self-imposed exile abroad since he suffered defeat in the polls in 2008, died in a hospital in Dubai, according to local media reports.

The current military chief General Sahir Shamshad expressed his “heartfelt condolences” for the former president’s death.

“CJCSC & Services Chiefs express heartfelt condolences on the sad demise of General Pervez Musharaf, Former President, CJCSC and Chief of Army Staff. May Allah bless the departed soul and give strength to the bereaved family,” the military said in a statement.

General Pervez Musharraf was a four-star general of the Pakistan Army who became the tenth president of Pakistan after the military takeover of the federal government in 1999.

He also served as the 10th Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee from 1998 to 2001 and the 7th Chief of Army Staff from 1998 to 2007.

Musharraf went into exile in 2008 when his party lost the country's first democratic polls in 11 years and he faced the prospect of impeachment by parliament.

Musharraf returned to Pakistan in 2013 to participate in that year's general election but was disqualified from participating after the country's high courts issued arrest warrants for him and Aziz for their alleged involvement in the assassinations of Nawab Akbar Bugti and Benazir Bhutto.

Upon Sharif's re-election in 2013, he initiated high treason charges against Musharraf for implementing emergency rule and suspending the constitution in 2007.

The case against Musharraf continued after Sharif's removal from office in 2017, the same year in which Musharraf was declared an "absconder" in the Bhutto assassination case by virtue of moving to Dubai.

In 2019, Musharraf, in absentia, was sentenced to death for the treason charges, although the death sentence was later annulled by the Lahore High Court. (ILKHA)