ISLAMABAD: Senior PPP leader and former senator Rehman Malik passed away on Wednesday in Islamabad due to coronavirus-related complications, his spokesperson Riaz Ali Turi confirmed. He was 70.

“Deeply devastated to say that former interior minister [and] PPP’s senior leader, Abdul Rehman Malik, passed away,” he tweeted.Earlier this month, Malik was put on a ventilator after his health deteriorated due to Covid-related complications.

Malik had tested positive for the coronavirus in January. At that time, his spokesperson said the former senator had initially been shifted to the intensive care unit of a private hospital in Islamabad after his condition deteriorated. However, his condition had continued to worsen and doctors subsequently put him on a ventilator on February 1.

The spokesperson said the virus had affected Malik’s lungs and the former senator had been complaining of breathing problems after contracting Covid.

Talking to the media, Malik’s nephew Waqas Malik said the former senator’s funeral prayers would be held at the mosque in Islamabad’s H-8 sector at 2:30pm tomorrow.