Political Leaders From Several Parties Demand Release of Political Prisoners Immediately

ISLAMABAD: A proposal for releasing political prisoners before the formal commencement of talks between government and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has come forward from former stalwarts of PTI, who are now on the wrong side of incumbent leadership of PTI, who are leading the party in the absence of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
A self-styled National Dialogue committee led by former PTI stalwarts Fawad Chaudhry, Imran Ismail and Shahzad Waseem has proposed to the government to release all political prisoners before the commencement of talks between the government and opposition parties.
The proposal was put forward in a conference organized by the National Dialogue committee in which political leaders from various political parties participated. This includes, former Mayor of Karachi, Waseem Akhtar who belongs to MQM, former parliamentarian Liaquat Baloch, who belongs to Jamat-e-Islami, former PTI stalwart, Sher Afzal Marwat and former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.
The proposal put forward in the conference included the idea that the government and opposition should form their separate committees for holding formal talks. The committee put forward the idea that the government should include in their committee President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The government has not come forward with its response to the idea.
The committee proposed that PTI should announce its names for the committee at a later stage. However the PTI has distanced itself from the proposal and so called National Dialogue committee after it publicly announced its aims to facilitate talks between the government and opposition.
The committee in its proposal included the idea that there should be no restriction on political activity in the country.
Though PTI has distanced itself from the activities of the committee, it is generally understood that opposition parties also want the release of political prisoners and lifting of restrictions on political activities.
The people included in the National Dialogue committee are generally perceived as discredited leaders of PTI. They don’t carry any political clout within the opposition of the government.
The government side also didn’t take part in the conference organized by the National dialogue committee.
In a statement posted on social media the National Dialogue committee leaders demanded that ” comprehensive, concrete and practical steps be taken immediately for dialogue and confidence-building at the national level”. These included the immediate release of “political workers”, including PTI women leaders, who were behind bars and the quashing of cases against them.

“Restrictions on political activities should be lifted. Complete freedom of political activities should be ensured within the framework of the Constitution and law,” it said. The NDC also called for the appointment of opposition leaders in the National Assembly and Senate — posts that have been vacant since August 7, 2025.

It further said that “censorship imposed on the media should be ended and restrictions imposed on anchors(persons) should be lifted”.

The moot also expressed concern over the “political unrest in the country, the economic difficulties facing the country and its people, restrictions on political activities and the media, and the challenge of terrorism”. “The government and opposition forces should not use the Pakistan armed forces for their politics and should not spread negative propaganda,” the statement added.