Police and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) both say Khalid Khurshid, a former chief minister of Gilgit-Baltistan, was taken into custody on Sunday night in Peshawar. The arrest was at the house of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly speaker. On its official social media page, PTI said Speaker Babar Saleem Swati and several other people were detained there with him. A police source confirmed the arrest of the party's Gilgit-Baltistan president and said he was wanted in multiple criminal cases.
How the arrest was described
The police source said, "Khalid Khurshid and others have been arrested from the speaker's residence in Peshawar." Swati's name comes from the party page. Police described the others present without naming them. Sources could not confirm whether the former chief minister will be sent to Gilgit-Baltistan for court proceedings or taken to another city.
Since 2023, sources said, he had lived at the chief minister's residence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa so that Gilgit-Baltistan police would not arrest him. Sources said he moved to the speaker's house on Sunday after emergency measures and governor's rule were imposed in the province. Governor's rule is the arrangement under which the federal government administers a province through the governor.
The cases that preceded it
In December 2024, an anti-terrorism court in Gilgit-Baltistan gave him 34 years in prison and a fine of Rs600,000. Such a court hears cases about threats or violence against the state. The court found he had threatened security institutions at a public gathering. Judge Rehmat Shah told the Gilgit-Baltistan inspector general of police to arrest him, and told the director general of the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) — the office that issues identity cards — to block his national identity card. He had stayed away despite repeated notices.
His name also appears in police cases linked to PTI protests and alleged clashes with law enforcement in Lahore and Islamabad. In March 2023 he was accused of using Gilgit-Baltistan police and government resources to guard former prime minister Imran Khan in Lahore, while authorities were trying to arrest the PTI founder. That allegation followed a federal government effort to collect evidence on the claimed use of regional police. A further allegation said official resources were used to support PTI demonstrations.
Gilgit-Baltistan police had not held him, despite those orders and cases, before Sunday night.
Voters in Astore returned him to the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly on a PTI ticket in the 2020 elections, after which he became chief minister. In July 2023 the Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Court disqualified him from public office over allegations that a licence from the Gilgit-Baltistan Bar Council had been obtained with a fraudulent educational degree. The ruling ended his term. Several PTI lawmakers then left the party line, a coalition took office, and dissident PTI lawmaker Haji Gulbar Khan became chief minister.
Timeline: what has happened so far
- 2020: Elected from Astore on a PTI ticket and became chief minister of Gilgit-Baltistan.
- March 2023: Accused of using Gilgit-Baltistan police and government resources for Imran Khan's security in Lahore.
- July 2023: Disqualified by the Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Court; Haji Gulbar Khan later became chief minister.
- December 2024: An anti-terrorism court sentenced him to 34 years and a Rs600,000 fine, and ordered his arrest and a block on his identity card.
- Sunday night: Arrested at the assembly speaker's house in Peshawar. Sources could not say whether he would go to Gilgit-Baltistan or to another city.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Gilgit-Baltistan ke sabiq chief minister Khalid Khurshid ko Peshawar mein itwar ki raat giraftar kiya gaya. PTI ke mutabiq KP Assembly speaker Babar Saleem Swati aur kuch aur log bhi unke sath pakre gaye. Police ka kehna hai ke un par kai muqadme hain, aur aik adalat 34 saal ki saza aur 6 lakh rupay jurmana de chuki hai. Yeh abhi maloom nahi ke unhein Gilgit-Baltistan le jaya jayega ya kisi aur shehar.
