ISLAMABAD: Ousted Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan secured bail on Thursday from the Islamabad High Court over new murder charges, blocking his arrest in that case for 14 days, his lawyer said.
The ousted prime minister had been arrested on May 9 and held for three days, triggering violent protests by his followers. He is now free on bail in a range of other criminal cases.
He had traveled to the capital from his Lahore home to seek bail in the murder case and extend his bail in over a dozen other cases, to avoid a new arrest, said the lawyer, Barrister Gohar Khan.
The 70-year-old former cricket hero who become prime minister in 2018 has been embroiled in a confrontation with the powerful military since he was ousted in a no-confidence vote last year.
The military has ruled directly or overseen civilian governments throughout the history of a country in which political confrontations are often fought out in court.
Khan’s May 9 arrest on corruption charges, which he denies, sparked protests by his supporters who ransacked military facilities, raising new worries about the stability of the nuclear armed country of 220 million people as it struggles with its worst economic crisis in decades.
Since Khan was freed, new charges against him have been piling up. On Wednesday, police named him in connection with the murder of a lawyer seeking sedition proceedings against him.
Khan says he is facing nearly 150 cases and denies guilt in all of them.
Khan’s lawyer, Gohar Khan, said the former prime minister would on Thursday approach anti-terrorism courts, anti-graft courts and the High Court in Islamabad to appeal for bail in connection with more than a dozen cases.
Khan, who has been campaigning for an early election since his ouster last year, said in an online address to party workers on Wednesday that he was resigned to the possibility he could be arrested for a second time.
The military, which denies involvement in civilian politics, initially saw Khan with his conservative, nationalist agenda as a leader who shared their interests. But as prime minister, Khan took steps that angered the generals, in particular in connection with security sector appointments.
He has accused the military and intelligence agencies of trying to destroy his party, saying he has “no doubt” he will be tried in a military court and jailed as part of the army-backed crackdown on his party. The military says it does not interfere in political affairs.
The military issued a statement on Wednesday saying all planners and perpetrators of the May 9 violence had to be brought to justice.
The prime minister who replaced Khan, Shahbaz Sharif, has rejected his call for an election before one is due by late this year. Khan says the cases against him are aimed at ensuring he is excluded from the polls.
Khan has appealed for talks to end the standoff with the military. The government has rejected his calls.
Pakistan’s Imran Khan gets bail on murder charges — lawyer
https://arab.news/462gc
Pakistan’s Imran Khan gets bail on murder charges — lawyer
- Khan says he is facing nearly 150 cases and denies guilt in all of them
- New charges against him have been piling up against Khan in recent days
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.
