Khalid Khurshid sent to jail on judicial remand as ATC rejects physical remand plea
ISLAMABAD: The Khalid Khurshid judicial remand order was issued on Saturday, as an anti-terrorism court rejected the police request for 30-day physical remand of the PTI leader and ex-GB chief minister, sending him to jail in a case registered over the November 26 protest.
ATC Judge Abul Hasnat Muhammad Zulqarnain heard the case after Islamabad police formally showed Khurshid’s arrest in the protest-related case registered at Aabpara Police Station.
The court turned down the request and ordered that the former chief minister be transferred to jail under judicial custody.
Arrest from Speaker House
Khurshid was taken into custody on Oct 11 from the Speaker House in Peshawar, along with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati and several others, according to the PTI’s account of the arrests.
The arrests came shortly after the Centre imposed emergency and governor’s rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Oct 11, a move that triggered a wave of detentions of PTI figures across the province. The Peshawar High Court has already been hearing a travel-related plea involving Swati, who was picked up in the same operation.
The governor’s rule was imposed on Oct 11 after days of political confrontation between the Centre and the KP government, and the detention of the province’s chief minister earlier drew condemnation from legal experts.
Following his reported detention, Khurshid’s son Hanifullah filed a petition in the Peshawar High Court seeking his father’s recovery and the preservation of CCTV footage from the Speaker House. The petition named the KP police chief and other authorities as respondents, and maintained unidentified individuals had taken Khurshid from the Speaker House at around 2am. The petitioner also alleged that police were reluctant to register a case over the incident.
Khalid Khurshid judicial remand: the background
This is not Khurshid’s first brush with the courts. In December 2024, an anti-terrorism court in Gilgit-Baltistan sentenced him to 34 years in prison and imposed a fine of Rs600,000 in a case involving allegations that he had threatened security institutions during a public gathering.
Khurshid was elected to the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly from the Astore district on a PTI ticket in the 2020 general elections and subsequently became chief minister. He serves as the president of the PTI’s GB chapter.
Dawn reported, citing sources, that Khurshid had been staying at the KP chief minister’s residence since 2023 to avoid arrest by GB police.
PTI workers discharged
In a separate development on Saturday, the same court discharged PTI workers arrested in connection with two cases linked to the party’s recent long march, after rejecting a request by the investigating officer for an adjournment to conduct their identification parade.
The workers were in judicial custody for identification parades in cases registered at Shalimar and Secretariat police stations. The investigating officer sought more time, but the defence counsel opposed the request, arguing the workers had already spent more than 40 days in custody and that police had repeatedly sought adjournments without producing them before the court.
The lawyers maintained the accused were innocent and had been deliberately implicated, alleging police had arbitrarily arrested individuals and falsely portrayed them as PTI workers. The court accepted the defence’s arguments and discharged all the PTI workers.
The judge hearing both matters has been presiding over several PTI-related ATC proceedings in recent weeks, including bail hearings where the absence of investigating officers drew his criticism.
The original reporting on Saturday’s hearing was published by Dawn, with additional details reported by ARY News.
FAQ
Why was Khalid Khurshid sent to jail?
An Islamabad ATC rejected the police request for 30-day physical remand and ordered that he be sent to jail on judicial remand in a case registered at Aabpara Police Station over the November 26 protest.
When and where was he arrested?
He was taken into custody on Oct 11 from the Speaker House in Peshawar, along with KP Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati and several others, according to the PTI.
What did his son’s petition ask for?
His son Hanifullah petitioned the Peshawar High Court seeking his father’s recovery and the preservation of CCTV footage from the Speaker House, naming the KP IGP and other authorities as respondents.
What is his earlier conviction?
In December 2024, a Gilgit-Baltistan ATC sentenced him to 34 years in prison and fined him Rs600,000 in a case over alleged threats to security institutions at a public gathering.
