GILGIT: On Tuesday, the Chief Court of Gilgit-Baltistan disqualified Chief Minister Khalid Khursheed, a prominent member of the troubled Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), for possessing a phony degree in accordance with Articles 62 and 63 of the Pakistani Constitution. Judges Malik Inayat Ur Rehman, Jauhar Ali, and Mushtaq Muhammad, who make up a three-person larger bench, announced the decision regarding the appeal filed by Ghulam Shahzad Agha, a member of the GB Assembly for the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).
Asadullah Khan, the former CM’s attorney, claimed that the articles did not apply to Great Britain (GB), but the complainant’s attorney informed the court that they did, and the court based its decision on that information.
The Higher Education Commission (HEC) had in May withdrawn the equivalence letter for the LLB degree issued to the chief minister after learning that it was “fake”.
Then, the commission also blocked and blacklisted his CNIC and name on its web portal, according to The News.
“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,” HEC wrote in a letter to the ex-CM.
“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.”
“Therefore, the HEC equivalence letter of even number dated September 23, 2022, issued to you is hereby withdrawn or cancelled.”
The degree presented by Khursheed had glaring differences like paper quality, embossed stamp, font, and signature when his verification letter was compared with other verification letters issued by the same department at the University of London in the same time frame for other students, a source told .
Khursheed had attached a fake degree from the University of London in his nomination papers, after which the HEC officially requested the University of London to verify his degree, which was declared as “fake” in an official response by the institution.
The now-former chief minister had joined the PTI in 2018 and was elevated to the position of Diamer- Astore’s divisional president.
When GB headed towards general polls in 2020, PTI’s former GB president Jafar Shah passed away due to coronavirus.
The sudden death created a vacuum, and during that time, given his qualifications, which have now turned out to be fake, PTI nominated Khursheed for GB’s top post.
