The Chief Court of Gilgit-Baltistan dismissed Chief Minister Khalid Khursheed, a prominent member of the troubled Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), for possessing a phoney degree in accordance with Articles 62 and 63 of the Pakistani Constitution.
CM Khalid Khursheed disqualified: Judges Malik Inayat Ur Rehman, Jauhar Ali, and Mushtaq Muhammad, who make up a three-person bigger bench, issued the decision regarding the appeal brought 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.
After discovering that the equivalence letter for the chief minister’s LLB degree was “fake,” the Higher Education Commission (HEC) withdrew it in May.
The News reported that the commission subsequently disabled and blacklisted his CNIC as well as his name on its online portal.
“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,” the HEC stated in a letter to the former CM.
The University of London has revealed that they did not issue the copy of the degree certificate, the letter of certification, and the transcript found inside the envelope.
Hence, we hereby withdraw or cancel the even number HEC equivalence letter issued to you on September 23, 2022.
“Fake Degree Exposed: PTI Nominee Khursheed’s Candidature Rejected in GB Elections”
The News reported that a source compared Khursheed’s verification letter to other verification letters issued by the same department at the University of London during the same time frame for other students. The comparison revealed noticeable differences in the degree he presented, such as variations in paper quality, embossed stamp, font, and signature.
Khursheed included a phoney degree from the University of London in his candidature paperwork, which prompted the HEC to formally request that the university verify it. The university responded by officially stating that the degree was “fake,” and the HEC then rejected Khursheed’s nomination.
The PTI welcomed the now-former chief minister in 2018, and subsequently promoted him to the position of divisional president of Diamer-Astore.
Jafar Shah, the former president of PTI in the UK, died from a coronavirus as the country prepared for general elections in 2020.
Following the sudden demise, PTI nominated Khursheed for the top position in GB, but his credentials were later revealed to be false.