T seems that there still may be some voices within the PTI urging reason and compromise instead of fanning agitation and discontent. According to news reports, several senior PTI leaders, who have now been in jail for close to two years, have written to their incarcerated chief to consider a dialogue with other political parties instead of insisting on one only with the military establishment. Their letter, sent from Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore, proposes that the PTI resolve matters with the political leadership first and then approach the powers that be. Though there are some questions regarding the letter, such as who wrote it and whether it was really signed by the jailed leaders, who are being held in separate barracks, its contents do not seem unreasonable or outside the realm of political possibility. The signatories reportedly include PTI vice-chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Senator Ejaz Ahmad Chaudhry, Dr Yasmin Rashid, Omar Sarfraz Cheema and Mian Mahmoodur Rasheed, all of whom have made a significant personal sacrifice for the party.

The PTI cadres may have good cause to resent the current regime, but the party should remember that its experience is not unique. Every national political entity has faced similar humiliation, oppression and/or forced capitulation at some stage of its career. During the height of the last overt dictatorship, some parties realised they could not continue to allow themselves to be used against each other for the establishment`s long vendetta against civilian rule. The Charter of Democracy was born of that realisation. But when the PTI emerged as a major political force, rather than embracing the Charter`s spirit, it aligned itself with those historically opposed to civilian supremacy. Since its ouster, there has merely been a turning of the tables. Therefore, for its own sake and for the sake of Pakistan`s besieged democracy, it needs to first re-establish the rules of engagement with other political parties.

The jailed PTI leaders` perspective should matter, especially to those who are out among the people and struggling to keep the party together due to their inability to establish clear lines of communication with the top leadership. But, as always, much depends on what party chief Imran Khan thinks of the proposal.

The jailed leaders have requested to be included in the dialogue process and to have regular access to the former prime minister at Adiala Jail. Given the interest this letter has generated, it appears that the space for dialogue may not have closed yet.

The initiative, tentative as it may be, deserves encouragement, including from the government. If space for reconciliation remains, both the government and PTI must seize it before the country`s democratic prospects are buried even deeper under the weight of their endless confrontation.