Ex-PM Khan’s party refuses to attend national conference on growing threat of militant violence

ISLAMABAD: Former premier Imran Khan’s political faction announced on Friday it would not attend an all-parties conference (APC) arranged by the government next week to discuss the growing threat of militant violence in the country.
The invitation to the event was extended by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday who called for national unity over the issue while asking Pakistan’s top political leaders to rise above their differences and collectively tackle the threat against the state and its people.
He also invited Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party to the conference which would be held on February 7.
“How can we sit with the government which is registering cases against us,” asked PTI general secretary Asad Umar while interacting with the media outside the Lahore High Court.
He acknowledged the growing threat of violence but pointed out that state resources were used to file treason cases against the leaders of his political party, instead of fighting the scourge of militancy.
The government decided to call the APC in the wake of a deadly suicide attack that killed at least 100 people at a mosque at Peshawar’s police headquarters during a prayer congregation Monday afternoon.
Pakistan has witnessed a surge in extremist violence since a fragile trace between the government and a proscribed militant faction, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), came to an end last November.
A TTP commander also claimed the attack on the mosque before his group distanced itself from the incident by issuing another statement.