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.
Ex-PM Khan’s party refuses to attend national conference on growing threat of militant violence
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Ex-PM Khan’s party refuses to attend national conference on growing threat of militant violence
- Asad Umar says government inviting PTI leaders for dialogue while registering treason cases against them
- PM Sharif called the all-parties conference next week, asking political leaders to rise above their differences
Pakistan reports current account surplus in Jan. owing to improved trade, remittances
- Pakistan’s exports crossed the $3 billion mark in Jan. as the country received $3.5 billion in remittances
- Last month, IMF urged Pakistan to accelerate pace of structural reforms to strengthen economic growth
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan recorded a current account surplus of more than $120 million in January, the country’s finance adviser said on Tuesday, attributing it to improved trade balance and remittance inflows.
Pakistan’s exports rebounded in January 2026 after five months of weak performance, rising 3.73 percent year on year and surging 34.96 percent month on month, according to data released by the country’s statistics bureau.
Exports crossed the $3 billion mark for the first time in January to reach $3.061 billion, compared to $2.27 billion in Dec. 2025. The country received $3.5 billion in foreign remittances in Jan. 2026.
Khurram Schehzad, an adviser to the finance minister, said Pakistan reported a current account surplus of $121 million in Jan., compared to a current account deficit of $393 million in the same month last year.
“Improved trade balance in January 2026, strong remittance inflows, and sustained momentum in services exports (IT/Tech) continue to reinforce the country’s external account position,” he said on X.
Pakistan has undergone a difficult period of stabilization, marked by inflation, currency depreciation and financing gaps, and international rating agencies have acknowledged improvements after Islamabad began implementing reforms such as privatizing loss-making, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and ending subsidies as part of a $7 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan program.
Late last month, the IMF urged Pakistan to accelerate the pace of these structural reforms to strengthen economic growth.
Responding to questions from Arab News at a virtual media roundtable on emerging markets’ resilience, IMF’s director of the Middle East and Central Asia Jihad Azour said Islamabad’s implementation of the IMF requirements had been “strong” despite devastating floods that killed more than 1,000 people and devastated farmland, forcing the government to revise its 4.2 percent growth target to 3.9 percent.
“What is important going forward in order to strengthen growth and to maintain the level of macroeconomic stability is to accelerate the structural reforms,” he said at the meeting.
Azour underlined Pakistan’s plans to privatize some of the SOEs and improve financial management of important public entities, particularly power companies, as an important way for the country to boost its capacity to cater to the economy for additional exports.
“This comes in addition to the effort that the authorities have made in order to reform their tariffs, which will allow the private sector of Pakistan to become more competitive,” the IMF official said.
