An anti-terrorism courtroom (ATC) in Pakistan has sentenced former Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) Chief Minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Khalid Khurshid to 34 years in jail on fees of threatening safety businesses.
Along with the prolonged sentence, the courtroom additionally imposed a effective of Rs 600,000 on the politician. The ATC additional directed the inspector common of police to arrest Khurshid and switch him to jail at some stage in his sentence.
As a part of the ruling, the courtroom ordered the Nationwide Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) to dam Khurshid’s computerized nationwide identification card (CNIC), additional complicating his authorized state of affairs.
The fees in opposition to Khurshid stem from an incident on Might 26, 2024, throughout a PTI energy present, the place he allegedly issued threats in opposition to GB’s chief secretary, the chief election commissioner, and safety businesses.
An FIR was lodged in opposition to him on the Metropolis Police Station in Gilgit underneath the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), with allegations that he had threatened the officers with severe penalties.
Nonetheless, regardless of the fees, Khurshid remained a fugitive and failed to look for courtroom proceedings.
Khurshid had served because the Chief Minister of Gilgit-Baltistan from 2020 till his disqualification in July 2023. His removing from workplace adopted a ruling by the GB Chief Courtroom, which disqualified him for submitting a pretend diploma throughout his nomination course of.
The diploma, purportedly from the College of London, was later verified as pretend by the Greater Schooling Fee (HEC) after a proper inquiry.
Khurshid, who joined PTI in 2018, had risen to the place of divisional president of Diamer-Astore. His involvement with PTI has additionally led to his reserving in a number of instances, together with fees associated to the occasion’s protests at D-Chowk in Islamabad in October.