A group of former PTI leaders and others on Wednesday proposed that the government and the opposition hold talks to reduce tensions and suggested that political prisoners be released as part of “confidence-building measures.” They made proposals in a formal statement issued at the conclusion of Wednesday’s conference in Islamabad, organised under the banner of the recently formed National Dialogue Committee (NDC). Ex-PTI leaders — including Fawad Chaudhry, former Sindh governor Imran Ismail, Dr Shahzad Waseem, and Mahmood Moulvi — are leading the initiative. “The meeting agreed to the proposal to initiate a fruitful negotiation process and declared that, in this regard, the government and the opposition should form separate committees comprising their respective representatives, between which the dialogue process should be initiated,” the statement read. The NDC proposed that President Asif Ali Zardari, PML-N President Nawaz Sharif, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif represent the ruling coalition in the talks...