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 today, 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.
Also today, a beleaguered Sharif 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.
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