A GROUP of estranged PTI leaders, calling themselves the ‘National Dialogue Committee’ and led by figures like former information minister Fawad Chaudhry and former Sindh governor Imran Ismail, has been trying to make its way back into the party. Their suggestions to the party’s incumbent leadership have usually been practical, even reasonable. However, they have not gone down well with the PTI’s leadership and cadres, or the majority of the party’s supporters, mainly because they are seen to number among those who abandoned the party in its hour of crisis. The group recently managed to secure a meeting with the less-talked-about PTI leaders incarcerated in Kot Lakhpat prison, which include Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Dr Yasmin Rashid. A brainstorming session on Pakistan’s political and economic crises resulted in the realisation that negotiations remain the way forward. Mr Qureshi reportedly suggested, while acknowledging the defence forces chief’s successes in international diplomacy, that perhaps the focus now should be a national dialogue for political stability within the country. It was further suggested that providing Imran Khan with the medical facilities he requires and lifting the ban on meetings with him might ease political temperatures significantly.

Again, while all of this is sensible, it matters naught if the PTI and Mr Khan do not see eye to eye with those trying to be ‘helpful’. And it matters naught if the ruling parties and decision-makers see no benefit in political reconciliation either. The fact is that intransigence on both sides has led the nation up this blind alley, where state institutions are now unable to fulfil their obligations to the people. The economy has been lifeless for years, and the people’s misery, once promised to be temporary and only for the period of stabilisation, is gradually becoming more permanent. The state, which has resolved to be a ‘hard’ one for all intents and purposes, seems far less wary than it should be of the resentment brewing in people’s hearts as the world moves forward and Pakistanis get left further behind. Poverty has risen sharply and the middle class continues to shrink, creating a vast chasm between the masses and the power elite. The country’s options will be reduced further if no action is taken to leave this path of instability. The sooner the authorities correct course, the greater the chances of averting a disaster.

Published in Dawn, July 12th, 2026