• Khalid Khurshid to challenge verdict in Supreme Appellate Court
• Hopes next chief minister will also be from PTI
• Opposition steps up efforts to form coalition govt

GILGIT: The Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Court disqualified Chief Minister Khalid Khurshid on Tuesday on a charge of obtaining a licence from the region’s bar council based on a fake degree.

The order was passed by a three-judge bench comprising Justice Malik Inayatur Rehman, Justice Johar Ali and Justice Mushtaq Muhammad on a petition seeking the disqualification of Mr Khurshid, who is also PTI’s regional president.

Ghulam Shahzad Agha, a member of the Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly from PPP, earlier challenged Mr Khurshid’s law degree and sought his disqualification under articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution.

The petitioner, through his counsel Amjad Hussain, contended that the degree submitted by Mr Khurshid had not been verified by the University of London, and the Higher Education Commission (HEC) had declared it to be fake.

On May 29, Chief Judge Ali Baig formed a larger bench to hear the case with instructions to conduct day-to-day hearings and conclude the case within 14 days.

The GB Chief Court — which has a status equal to that of other high courts of Pakistan and whose decisions are appealed to the Supreme Appellate Court Gilgit-Baltistan, the highest court in the region — also issued notices to the HEC, the chief minister, GB Bar Council and the Election Commission to submit their replies on the issue.

All respondents in the case completed their arguments, after which the bench disqualified Mr Khurshid for five years.

Earlier in the day, a no-confidence motion was also submitted against Mr Khurshid in the GB Assembly by nine lawmakers from opposition parties.

After the decision passed by the GB Chief court, the region’s chief election commissioner de-notified Mr Khurshid as a member of the GB Assembly.

Later, Mr Khurshid said at a press conference that the next GB chief minister would be from PTI. He said a candidate for the post would be announced after meeting with the PTI’s parliamentary committee and allied parties. “We firmly stand with PTI and its chief Imran Khan,” he said.

Talking to media persons after the court hearing, Advocate Amjad said Mr Khurshid had submitted an “American degree” — which he claimed was issued by Axact — to the bar council and obtained a lawyer’s licence.

“But when the degree was challenged, all the records at the bar council were deleted,” he claimed, adding that later a degree issued by a London university had been submitted in court.

“Today, truth has prevailed and it has been proven that the degree submitted by Mr Khurshid was fake,” the petitioner’s lawyer said.

Khurshid to appeal verdict

Meanwhile, Mr Khurshid’s lawyer Advocate Asadullah said the court’s order was against “our expectations”.

“We are waiting for the detailed verdict and will then file an appeal against it in the Supreme Appellate Court GB,” he told Dawn.com. “If there is any other option available, we will also opt for that.”

He said the court’s decision to hear the case on a day-to-day basis had raised several questions.

Separately, the PTI said the party had decided to stand firm with Mr Khurshid, asserting that it had a “clear majority” in the region.

It said PTI chief Imran Khan had called a meeting of all members of the party’s GB parliamentary committee to devise a comprehensive strategy to deal with the new challenges.

“Insulting the mandate of the people of Gilgit-Baltistan and attempts to rob it will be vigorously resisted,” the PTI said, adding that the party would soon announce a new candidate for the chief minister’s post after consultation with Mr Khan.

Mr Khurshid was elected as the GB chief minister in 2020. He was fielded by an alliance of the PTI and Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen and won by securing 22 votes compared to nine votes by Amjad Hussain, the candidate of the opposition parties JUI-F, PPP and PML-N.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif chaired a meeting on the formation of a government in Gilgit-Baltistan.

In the meeting, held in Prime Minister House in Islamabad, the participants decided to form a coalition government comprising members from PPP, PML-N, JUI-F and disgruntled members of the PTI.

A source said Mr Sharif had tasked Railways Minister Saad Rafique to consult four members from PPP, three from PML-N, one from JUI-F, and one independent member and some disgruntled PTI members to form the next government in Gilgit-Baltistan.

Barjess Tahir, a former GB governor and the minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan in the Abbasi cabinet from August 2017 to May 2018, has been tasked with helping Mr Rafique.

Published in Dawn, July 5th, 2023