Former Gilgit-Baltistan chief Khurshid detained in Pakistan — Dawn
In Peshawar, Pakistan, Khalid Khurshid Khan, the former head of the Gilgit-Baltistan government and regional president of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, was detained. According to PTI’s official social media page, Babar Saleem Swati, speaker of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, and several other people were detained along with him. This was reported by Dawn.
Detention at the speaker’s residence
According to the publication, the detentions took place on Sunday night at the residence of the speaker of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly in Peshawar. A police source confirmed Khurshid’s detention and said that he was wanted in connection with several criminal cases.
Dawn’s sources claim that since 2023, Khurshid had been living at the residence of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister to avoid detention by Gilgit-Baltistan police. After emergency measures and governor’s rule were imposed in the province, he reportedly moved to the speaker’s residence. The sources could not confirm whether he would be taken to Gilgit-Baltistan for legal proceedings or to another city.
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Court sentence and disqualification
In December 2024, a Gilgit-Baltistan anti-terrorism court sentenced Khurshid to 34 years in prison and a fine of 600,000 Pakistani rupees for threatening security institutions during a public gathering. Judge Rehmat Shah also ordered police to detain the politician and the National Database and Registration Authority to block his national identity card.
According to Dawn, Khurshid did not appear in court despite repeated summonses. He was also named in several police cases related to PTI protests and alleged clashes with law enforcement officers in Lahore and Islamabad. In March 2023, he was accused of using Gilgit-Baltistan police personnel and resources to protect former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
In July 2023, the Chief Court of Gilgit-Baltistan disqualified Khurshid from holding public office over allegations that he had obtained a Gilgit-Baltistan Bar Council licence on the basis of a forged diploma. Before that, he was elected to the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly from the Astore constituency on the PTI ticket in the 2020 elections, after which he headed the region’s government.
