ISLAMABAD, May 16, 2023: Troubles for Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) Chief Minister Khalid Khursheed seem to be brewing as the Higher Education Commission (HEC) has withdrawn the equivalence letter issued to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader for his LLB degree after it was found to be “fake”, The News reported on Monday.
An HEC letter of May 12 to Khalid Khursheed states: “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 university has disclosed that the envelope and its contents (a copy of the degree certificate, a letter of certification, and a transcript) were not issued by the University of London. Therefore, the HEC equivalence letter of even number dated September 23, 2022, issued to you is hereby withdrawn or cancelled.”
The letter further notes that CM Khalid Khursheed’s name and his CNIC have also been blocked and blacklisted on their online portal.
A source, privy to the development, told The News that GB CM will not only be immediately disqualified from his post due to the HEC’s notification but the authorities will also initiate criminal proceedings against him.
The degree presented by the GB CM had glaring differences like paper quality, embossed stamp, font, and signature when his verification letter was compared with other verification letters issued by the same department at the University of London in the same time frame for other students, said the source.
CM Khursheed had attached a fake degree from the University of London in his nomination papers, after which HEC officially requested the UK authorities for verification of his degree, which was declared as “fake” in an official response by the institution.
Earlier, GB CM’s lawyer Yasir Abbas had termed talk about the degree of propaganda by political opponents to malign PTI’s government in Gilgit Baltistan, saying the chief minister intends to file a defamation suit against the perpetrators of this propaganda.