A court of Gilgit has sentenced Khalid Khurshid leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the former Chief Minister of Gilgit-Baltistan a term of imprisonment of 34 years for a case of hate speech.
In addition, the court has imposed a fine of Rs. 600,000 upon the former chief minister, besides directing the Director General, NADRA, to block the national identity card of the convict.
The ruling was pronounced by ATC Judge Rahmat Shah and cited multiple sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act.
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The case had originated from a first information report (FIR) registered at the City Police Station in Gilgit alleging that Khurshid made threats to security agencies while making derogatory comments against the Chief Election Commissioner during a public gathering on May 26, 2024, at Ittehad Chowk.
Khurshid has faces more legal troubles in recent months. An arrest warrant from the Civil Court in April for the day jumped and was given on bail for a degree case filed against the individual. Issued by Sr. Civil Judge Hidayat Ali, the arrest warrant came after Khurshid was being recurrently absent from court proceedings.
The former CM is accused of having obtained a solicitor’s license from the Gilgit-Baltistan Bar Council using an invalid University of London law degree and further submitted an affidavit to the Higher Education Commission (HEC), Islamabad, to obtain an equivalency certificate.
In July 2023, the Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Court disqualified Khurshid in the fake degree case. A three-member bench ruled in favor of a petition filed by GB Assembly member Shahzad Agha, who argued that Khurshid’s degree was unverifiable and fictitious.
Khurshid took charge of the Chief Minister of Gilgit-Baltistan in December 2020 and has since then been considered one besides being a close ally of PTI chairman Imran Khan.