Senior Civil Judge Hidayat Ali issued a bailable arrest warrant against Khalid Khurshid due to his repeated absence in court proceedings. The former CM of Gilgit Baltistan, who also previously held the position of President of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chapter in the region, is accused of obtaining a lawyer’s license from the Gilgit-Baltistan Bar Council using a purportedly ‘fictitious’ University of London law degree and submitting a false affidavit to the Higher Education Commission (HEC) in Islamabad to obtain an equivalency certificate.
Khurshid contested elections in Gilgit Baltistan from Astore and subsequently became the chief minister, but was later disqualified by the Gilgit Baltistan Court for holding a ‘fake’ degree and was implicated in a fraud case.
In July 2023, the Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Court ruled against Khalid Khursheed Khan in the fake degree case following a petition filed by GB Assembly member Shahzad Agha.
The court’s decision was based on allegations that Khursheed’s law degree was fraudulent and that he should be disqualified under Article 62 and 63. Despite claiming to have obtained a law degree from London, the authenticity of Khurshid’s qualifications could not be verified.
Khalid Khursheed, who had been serving as Chief Minister since December 2020, was regarded as a close confidante of PTI chairman Imran Khan.
