Islamabad: Pakistan's rattled government on Thursday asked the country's powerful army to help defuse the political crisis due to ongoing protests by opposition leader Imran Khan and influential cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri who are demanding the ouster of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
The decision to seek army chief General Raheel Sharif's help was taken after both Qadri and Khan refused to budge from their demand for Premier Sharif to quit.
Earlier in the day, General Sharif met the prime minister to discuss the fortnight-long political turmoil, for the second time in three days. Both protest leaders announced that General Sharif was asked by Prime Minister Sharif in their meeting to mediate and settle the protests.
"General Raheel Shareef has asked us for some more time to hold talks," Khan said during address to his supporters. Qadri also confirmed in his address that the army chief had asked for 24 hours to solve the crisis.
The army stepped in after remaining in the background for days and urging the two sides to settle their differences through talks. It is still not clear whether the protesters' demand for the prime minister's removal will be accepted. The government has already said that every demand except the premier's ouster will be accepted.
The new development has raised several questions about the objective of the protesters who have told their supporters that they were fighting for electoral and political reforms. The intervention will make Premier Sharif's government more vulnerable and could weaken his authority on key national and foreign policy issues like normalisation of ties with India.
A beleaguered Sharif also on Thursday agreed to face a case of murder of 14 supporters of Qadri who rejected it saying terror charges should also be slapped on the premier. Police in Lahore finally registered the murder case against Prime Minister Sharif, his brother and Punjab province Chief Minister Shahbaz, key cabinet ministers and senior officials for their alleged role in the killing of Qadri's supporters in the Model Town area on June 17, meeting a major demand of the fiery cleric.
"The FIR has been registered on the order of the Lahore High Court (LHC)," Punjab police spokesperson Nabila Ghazanfar said. She said the FIR had been registered on PAT's application. However, the cleric was not satisfied with the government's concession, saying "I do not accept this FIR, until the Terrorism Act is included in it".
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Khan and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chief Qadri had snapped communications with the official negotiators after the fifth round of talks failed to produce any result last night. Qadri termed supporters of PTI and his party as first cousins. He said that he and PTI Chairman Khan were brothers.
"Today is the day to get freedom from economic and social exploitation. More than 100 million poor of this country are slaves of this corrupt and unjust system," the PAT chief said. "Our rulers have money when it comes to corruption, buying journalists and anchorpersons and living a lavish life style...but, there is no money to resolve issues concerning poor masses of the country," Qadri said.
Khan continued to demand Sharif's resignation, saying "I will not leave. I will not accept this monarchy. I want real democracy. It has been decided that an FIR will be registered against Shahbaz Sharif, but he has decided that he will not resign," he said.
Amid mounting pressure from the protesters, Sharif also chaired a high-level meeting in the capital to discuss the current political crisis, media reports said. It was decided in the meeting that neither the premier nor Chief Minister Punjab province Shahbaz will step down and the federal and provincial assemblies will also not be dissolved.
During the meeting, Sharif also said he along with other ministers named in the FIR, will extend full cooperation in investigations into the Model Town incident. The Lahore Sessions Court hearing the case related to the clashes had ordered police to register a murder case earlier this month against 21 persons named by the Qadri-led PAT in its complaint.
Pakistani police, however, had earlier refused to register the murder case against Prime Minister Sharif, his brother and Punjab province Chief Minister Shahbaz and some top Cabinet ministers despite the court order on framing of charges.
The court had ordered the registration of a murder case against Sharif, Shahbaz, his nephew Hamza Shahbaz, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, Railways Minister Rafique, Information Minister Rashid, State Minister Abid Sher Ali (also a relative of the Sharif), Punjab former law minister Rana Sanaullah and top police officers who took part in the "barricades removal operation".
Qadri has also demanded that after the registration of the case, both Sharif brothers should resign. Political stalemate has continued for the last two weeks with Khan-led PTI and Qadri's PAT refusing to budge from their demand of the Prime Minister's resignation over allegations of rigging in last year's general election and killing of 14 PAT supporters in Lahore on June 17.
The protesters have been sitting in front of the Parliament House and the Supreme Court building since August 19, demanding Sharif's resignation.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court distanced itself from the politics of sit-ins while hearing a case related to the protests on the Constitution Avenue. During the hearing, Justice Asif Saeed Khosa said the matter was not about Constitution Avenue, but about the Constitution itself.
When the issue of unconstitutional actions of the protesters was raised, the court distanced itself from the politics of sit-ins and remarked that the court's responsibility is to ensure protection of the Constitution. A Supreme Court committee visited the sit-in venue yesterday to verify whether its earlier order to vacate the premises had been implemented.
The apex court had asked the protesting parties to submit a response for failing to comply with its order. Sharif also cancelled today's planned visit to Turkey to attend the oath-taking ceremony of Recep Tayyip Erdogan who has won the presidential polls. Now President Mamnoon Hussain will represent Pakistan there.
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