Talks is the way out.

It's time for serious and unconditional political talks. The impasse prevalent in the country, coupled with economic degeneration, can only be stemmed if political harmony is ushered in. The seven-member committee constituted by PTI chief Imran Khan for talks with the government is a welcome development, and must be reciprocated in a positive manner. The good point, however, this time around is that the PTI has offered to talk it out with the executive at the helm of affairs, and not with the Establishment, as it had been insisting for long. This climb-down has its genesis in the water that has flown down the bridge in the form of a relentless crackdown against the party in the wake of May 9 vandalism by miscreants, and the tenterhooks at which the party sits these days.

The instant response, nonetheless, from the government that it is not interested in talks needs some serious reconsideration. This is not the time for a tit-for-tat, as the coalition dispensation is constitutionally obliged to go into elections with the end of parliamentary term, and this offer of talks from the opposition should be seized to...