ATC rejects 30-day remand plea for Khalid Khurshid

An anti-terrorism court in Islamabad rejected police’s request for a 30-day physical remand of PTI leader and former Gilgit-Baltistan chief minister Khalid Khurshid in a case linked to the November 26, 2024 protest.

Judge Abul Hasnat Muhammad Zulqarnain ordered that Khurshid be sent to judicial custody after police produced him before the court and sought permission for further physical custody for investigation.

The case was registered at Aabpara Police Station in connection with the PTI protest in Islamabad in November 2024. The proceedings concern allegations in that protest-related case; the court order on remand does not determine guilt or innocence.

Khurshid is president of PTI’s Gilgit-Baltistan chapter. He was taken into custody with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati and others at the speaker’s residence in Peshawar on October 11, according to the party.

The November 2024 protest saw PTI supporters enter Islamabad despite restrictions on public gatherings. Clashes were reported in the Red Zone before the party called off its planned sit-in, and cases were subsequently registered against several party leaders under provisions of the Pakistan Penal Code and the Anti-Terrorism Act.

In separate proceedings, the court discharged PTI workers arrested in two cases connected with the party’s recent long march. The investigating officer had sought an adjournment for an identification parade, while defence lawyers said the workers had already spent more than 40 days in custody. The court accepted the defence request and ordered their discharge from those cases.