The Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Court on Tuesday disqualified Chief Minister Khalid Khurshid Khan of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) under Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution of Pakistan for submitting a fake degree to the GB Bar Council.
A three-member larger bench comprising Justices Malik Inayatur Rehman, Jauhar Ali, and Mushtaq Muhammad announced the verdict on a plea filed by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) GB lawmaker Ghulam Shahzad Agha. During proceedings, Khurshid’s lawyer had argued that Articles 62 and 63 did not apply to GB, but the complainant’s counsel rebutted this, forming the court’s basis for disqualification.
The Higher Education Commission (HEC) had declared the former chief minister’s degree “fake” in May, withdrawing an equivalence letter for the LLB degree issued to him. It had also subsequently blocked and blacklisted his CNIC and name on its web portal. “This commission approached the University of London for re-verification of your LLB degree, transcript, and letter of certification provided by you in a sealed envelope to the HEC,” the HEC had written to Khurshid at the time.
“The university has disclosed that the envelope and its contents (a copy of the degree certificate, a letter of certification, and a transcript) were not issued by the University of London,” it said, adding that resultantly the equivalence letter from Sept. 23, 2022 had been “withdrawn or cancelled.”
During proceedings, the PPP lawmaker’s counsel had noted that the degree submitted by Khurshid been declared “fake” by the HEC after it sought to verify it following his attaching it with his nomination papers.
Khurshid jointed the PTI in 2018 and emerged as the party’s candidate for GB chief minister after then-PTI GB president Jafar Shah passed away due to the coronavirus pandemic ahead of the general elections in 2020. He had come under increasing controversy over the past year, as he spent little time in GB, preferring instead to remain with PTI chief Imran Khan as he led protests against the incumbent federal government. His opponents had accused him of “misusing” GB resources to benefit Khan, which he had denied.