GILGIT: Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Election Commi­ssi­oner Raja Shahbaz Khan on Friday admitted for hearing a petition challenging degrees of Chief Minister Khalid Khurshid Khan.

The CEC has issued notices to the chief minister and vice chairman of GB Bar Council, asking them to appear on July 7.

Former minister Farman Ali Khan and former GB Assembly member Abdul Hameed Khan from Astore through their counsel Ghulaam Mohammad had submitted the petition with the CEC, challenging the law degrees of CM Khurshid Khan.

The arguments on the petition were held in the office of the election commission, Gilgit, on Friday.

The petitioners said that Khurshid Khan had obtained the licence of an advocate from the GB Bar Council on the basis of a fake LLB degree from Balford University, the UK.

They claimed that the university from where Khurshid Khan obtained the degree is fake, adding that the university was proved to be a scam and its owner has been awarded a prison term.

The petitioners said that Khurshid Khan had also claimed to have got another LLB degree from the University of London, the UK. They said according to dates mentioned in the degrees, Khurshid Khan got one degree from a university in June 2009 and the other law degree in September 2009.

The petitioners asked how two degrees in three months from two different universities could be obtained.

They called for an investigation and said both degrees were fake.

Khurshid Khan was elected GB Assembly member from Astore and was later elected chief minister.

The petitioners requested the CEC to disqualify Khurshid Khan under the Constitution of Pakistan and remove him from the post of CM.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2022