PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Thursday granted protective bail to former Gilgit-Baltistanchief minister Khalid Khurshid Khan in cases registered against him in different parts of the country.

The former chief minister has filed two petitions with the court, seeking orders for law-enforcement agencies to provide details of cases registered against him and grant him protective bail.

Justice Fahim Wali of a single-member benchheard one of the petitions and granted him protective bail until Sept 25 in a case registered at the Gilgit City police station.

The bench directed him to submit two surety bonds of Rs100,000 each and appear before the relevant Gilgit court.

Asks Khalid Khurshid to approach relevant courts

The FIR in that case was registered on Aug 5, 2023, under different provisions of Pakistan Penal Code.

The former chief minister was charged with possessing a fake law degree.

Similarly, a bench consisting of Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Shahid Khan heard Mr Khalid’s other petition that requested it to stop law-enforcement agencies from harassing and arresting him in any of the cases registered against him.

The bench directed law-enforcement agencies not to apprehend the petitioner, who was told to approach the relevant courts for redressal of his grievances.

It put on notice the respondents, including the federal and provincial governments, for responding to the petition.

The respondents in the petition include federal government through interior secretary, Federal Investigation Agency’s director general, National Accountability Bureau chairman, directors general of anti-corruption establishment in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, IGPs of KP, Punjab, Islamabad and Gilgit Baltistan, and home secretaries of KP and Punjab.

Advocate Alam Khan Adenzai appeared for the petitioner in both cases and argued that the petitioner was elected as member of the legislative assembly of GB and was subsequently elected as the chief minister.

He said that the petitioner was a law-abiding citizen and had never been involved in any offence.

The lawyer claimed that the police in GB had regularly been raiding his client’s house and office besides constantly harassing him.

He said that when the petitioner approached the relevant officials to get details of the cases registered against him, they showed reluctance to share that information.

The counsel argued that the petitioner repeatedly approached the government to know about other cases registered against him, but to no avail.

He said that the petitioner recently learned about the registration of a “fabricated” case against him at Gilgit City police station.

The lawyer said his client feared arrestif he tried to approach the court for pre-arrest bail.

He added that the case in question was registered to victimise the petitioner on political grounds.

Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2024