Thousands of people attended the funeral of former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in Karachi on Tuesday, who leaves a controversial legacy in his country, which he made an ally of the US in the fight against the Al-Qaeda terrorist network, AFP informs, Agerpres reads.

General Musharraf, Pakistan’s last military leader, died on Sunday at the age of 79 in Dubai, where he had been receiving treatment since 2016 for amyloidosis, a rare disease that affects vital organs.

In a military camp in Karachi (south), prayers were recited in a sober ceremony attended by about 10,000 people, mainly active or reservist soldiers, an AFP journalist found.

The lifeless body, which was repatriated on Monday to this city where the family of this former member of an elite commando born in New Delhi on August 11, 1943 fled after the partition of India, is to be buried in a military cemetery.

Neither President Arif Alvi, nor Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, nor Chief of Staff, Asim Munir, attended the funeral, which was not the subject of any official announcement by the government or the army.

In Pakistan, where the army is still extremely powerful, although he is no longer in power, General Musharraf remains a contested figure.

Agerpres