(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Nawaz Sharifs efforts to end the conflict have repeatedly failed in recent days leaving Pakistan locked in a dangerous deadlock with protesters.Pakistan’s prime minister distanced himself from an army move to intervene in the crisis on Friday saying he was not turning to the military for help to defuse the stand-off.
But in an embarrassing twist for the prime minister the army swiftly denied this saying it had been specifically instructed by the government to step in.
Nawaz Sharif’s efforts to end the conflict have repeatedly failed in recent days leaving Pakistan locked in a dangerous deadlock with thousands of protesters massing outside parliament for weeks in a country that has seen a string of military coups.
Opposition leaders Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri announced late on Thursday they would directly negotiate with army chief General Raheel Sharif.
Both men later held talks with the general. Qadri has not commented on the discussions while Khan said the army would act as a guarantor on one of his key demands for an investigation into his accusations of fraud in an election last year.
Addressing parliament on Friday Sharif said he had nothing to do with the army’s decision to step into the conflict. “The army did not ask to play the role of mediator neither have we requested them to play such a role” he told the assembly where he enjoys a strong majority.
Sharif added that he had not objected to both Khan and Qadri meeting the army chief. “If ... they want to meet the army chief then they should certainly meet” he said.
However the army’s Press wing quickly tweeted: “(The army chief) was asked by the Govt to play facilitative role for resolution of current impasse in yesterday’s meeting at (Sharif’s) House.”
Pakistan a nuclear-armed nation of 180 million has been ruled by the military for half of its entire history and has repeatedly oscillated between civilian and military rule.
The army’s involvement is likely to unnerve some Pakistanis but it also offers Khan and Qadri a face-saving solution to end their deadlocked protest as both are seen as close to the military.
Thousands of Qadri and Khan supporters have camped since August 15 in Islamabad’s so-called Red Zone. But as the protest movement began to lose steam following the army’s intervention only about 1000 people remained there on Friday compared with about 10000 late on Thursday.
When Khan turned up to make another speech on Friday afternoon he addressed an almost empty site. “Freedom or death — those are my two choices. The jinn has left the lamp and can’t go back in” he said from atop a shipping container.
Many protesters said they felt deflated after two weeks of rallying. “What was the point of sitting here for two weeks and saying we are here to find a peaceful political solution if we were going to go running to the army” said Sidra Faisal. For more news from Khaleej Times follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes and on Twitter at khaleejtimes Follow khaleejtimes ->
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