Islamabad

Pakistan Peoples Party's (PPP) senior leader and former interior minister Rehman Malik passed away due to COVID-19 infection on Wednesday morning at the age of 70, local media reported.

Malik, who was suffering from COVID-related complications, had been hospitalized in Islamabad and was on ventilator support since early February, Samaa TV reported. Confirming the news of his death, PPP Senator Sehar Kamran tweeted, "Dr Rehman Malik left us today."

Malik was the federal interior minister from 2008 to 2013 during the PPP regime in Pakistan.

A close confidant of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, he played a key role in the investigation into her assassination, the Samaa TV report said.

Meanwhile, Pakistan reported 744 fresh COVID infections and 43 deaths in the last 24 hours, the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) said on Wednesday. With the new infections, the active caseload in the country reached 1232, of which 1230 patients are on critical care. The positivity rate stood at 2.95 per cent, as per NCOC.