Ex-Pakistan leader Pervez Musharraf hospitalized over heart condition

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Former military leader of Pakistan is in intensive care, his spokeswoman says

He is receiving treatment for complications related to a heart condition but is stable

Islamabad, Pakistan CNN  — 

Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is in intensive care in the hospital after falling ill Thursday, his spokeswoman told CNN.

Musharraf became breathless and was taken to PNS Shifa Hospital in Karachi, spokeswoman Aasia Ishaque said.

He is receiving treatment in an intensive care unit for complications related to a heart condition and is in stable condition, she said.

The former army general, who became president in 1999 after leading a bloodless coup, resigned as Pakistan’s leader in 2008.

Facing charges that he had violated the constitution by unlawfully declaring emergency rule, Musharraf fled Pakistan for the United Kingdom in 2009 but returned four years later with the aim of running in national elections.

Last month an anti-terrorism court acquitted him in the killing of a Baloch nationalist leader in 2006.

CNN’s Sophia Saifi reported from Islamabad, and Tim Hume contributed to the report from London.