Gilgit: The Chief Court of Gilgit-Baltistan on Tuesday disqualified Chief Minister Khalid Khurshid, leader of the embattled Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), for possessing fake degrees under Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution of Pakistan.
A three-member larger bench – Justice Malik Inayat ur Rehman, Justice Johar Ali and Justice Mushtaq Muhammad – delivered the verdict on a petition filed by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) GB Assembly member Ghulam Shahzad Agha.
The former CM’s counsel, Asadullah Khan, argued that the articles did not apply to GB, but the complainant’s counsel informed the court that they applied to the region – based on which the court gave its verdict.
The Higher Education Commission (HEC) had in May withdrawn the LLB degree equivalency letter issued to the chief minister after finding that it was “fake”.
Then, the commission blocked and blacklisted his CNIC and name on its web portal news,
“This commission has approached the University of London for re-verification of your LLB degree, transcript and certificate provided by you in a sealed cover to the HEC,” the HEC wrote in a letter to the former CM.
“The University has disclosed that the envelope and its contents (a copy of the degree certificate, certificate letters and a transcript) were not issued by the University of London.”
“Hence, the HEC counter letter of even number dated 23rd September, 2022 issued to you stands withdrawn or cancelled.”
The degree presented by Khurshid had clear differences such as the quality of the paper, the embossed stamp, the font and the signature, when his verification letter was compared to other verification letters issued in the same time frame to other students by the same department at the University of London. was done with, said a source news,
Khurshid had attached a fake degree from the University of London in his nomination papers, following which the HEC requested the University of London to officially verify his degree, which was declared “fake” by the institute in an official response .
The now former Chief Minister had joined PTI in 2018 and was promoted to the post of Divisional President of Diemer-Estor.
When GB was heading towards general elections in 2020, former GB president of PTI Zafar Shah passed away due to coronavirus.
The sudden death created a vacuum and during that time, PTI nominated Khurshid for the top post of GB, considering his qualifications, which have now turned out to be bogus.
