ISLAMABAD: Former military strongman Pervez Musharraf was gravely ill in Dubai, his office said on Friday, warning that the 78-year-old was unlikely to recover.

“Going through a difficult stage where recovery is not possible and organs are malfunctioning,” a message on his official Twitter page said, adding the news came from his family.

Musharraf seized power in 1999 in a bloodless coup after the then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif tried to dismiss him as army chief, having appointed him above more senior officers a year earlier. In more than seven years in office, he oversaw a stint of economic growth while dodging at least three assassination attempts.