Former CM Gilgit-Baltistan gets 34-year jail term in hate speech case

GILGIT: An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Gilgit awarded 34-year jail term to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and former Chief Minister Gilgit-Baltistan Khalid Khurshid in a hate speech case, ARY News reported.

According to details, Khalid Khurshid has also been ordered to pay a fine of Rs 600,000, ATC judge in Gilgit Rahmat Shah pronounced his verdict in multiple sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

The ATC judge has also directed the Director General NADRA to block the National Identity Card of Khalid Khurshid.

According to the First Information Report, registered at city Police Station Gilgit, Khurshid hurled threats to Security Agencies and used indecent language against the Chief Election Commissioner during a public gathering at Ittehad Chawk on May 26, 2024.

Earlier, in April, a senior civil judge issued an arrest warrant against Khalid Khurshid Khan in a fake degree case.

According to the details, Senior Civil Judge Hidayat Ali issued a bailable arrest warrant against the former chief minister of Gilgit Baltistan over his continuous absence.

Khalid Khurshid charged with getting a lawyer’s license from the Gilgit-Baltistan Bar Council by submitting a ‘fictitious’ University of London law degree and an affidavit to the Higher Education Commission (HEC), Islamabad to obtain an equivalency certificate.

Read more: D-Chowk protest: ATC rejects physical remand of 146 suspects

The Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Court in July 2023 disqualified Khalid Khursheed Khan in a fake degree case as a three-member bench announced the verdict on a petition filed by a member of the GB Assembly Shahzad Agha against him.

The petitioner had argued that Khursheed’s law degree was fake and he should be disqualified under Article 62 and 63.  Khursheed claimed to have received a law degree from London but it could not be verified.

Khalid Khursheed had been in office since December 2020 and considered a close aide of PTI chairman Imran Khan.