Haji Gulbar Khan, one of the four candidates who are running for the slot of new chief minister of Gilgit-Baltistan, is turned out to be a proclaimed offender, the 24NewsHd TV channel reported on Wednesday.

A court in Mardan has declared Haji Gulbar Khan an absconder after being summoned in a case related to the submission of a fake cheque.

The court issued an arrest warrant after he failed to appear despite being summoned.

Gulbar Khan is wanted by Mardan Police after being declared a fugitive based on the arrest warrant.

Senator Faisal Saleem, a resident of Mardan, lodged the FIR in July 2015 after Gulbar Khan allegedly submitted a fake cheque worth Rs 2.2 million.

Haji Gulbar Khan is a joint candidate of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) forward bloc and Pakistan Muslim League -Nawaz (PML-N) in the GB Assembly.  

The polling for the election of the new chief minister will be held tomorrow (Thursday) in the Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly.

 Four candidates have filed nomination papers for the election of the new chief minister. The slot became vacant after the disqualification of PTI’s Khalid Khurshid Khan.

 The candidates include Raja Azam Khan, Javed Ali Manwa, Raja Zakaria, and Haji Gulbar Khan. Among them, Raja Azam, Javed Ali Manwa and Raja Zakaria dissociated themselves from PTI and formed a like-minded group.