Army mediated on PTI, PAT demand: Ch Nisar

ISLAMABAD: Speaking from the National Assembly session on Friday, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan revealed that the army was made part of the negotiations at the request of the protesting parties.

After receiving mixed reaction over the army’s intervention, Nisar told that the prime minister turned to the army chief for a solution to the political deadlock after Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) leaderships agreed to hold talks with the army leadership.

The interior minister lamented that the protesting parties were unwilling to accept any institution's offered solutions, and therefore, the government was forced to accept the military as a last resort.

"They did not trust the judiciary; they did not trust the opposition parties in this assembly; they do not trust lawyers – if they do not trust anyone, but the army, what option did the government have?" Nisar said.

"This is not PTI or PAT's army, this is Pakistan's army. And instead of being in North Waziristan it is standing here in the red zone. And these parties have brought them here," he said.

The minister went on to elucidate that the army stands with the government over the current political turmoil. The army is striving to bring a peaceful solution to this turmoil within the Constitution, he said.

Declaring this time a "critical" moment in Pakistan and the parliament's history, Nisar reiterated that the government had the backing of civil society and all political parties.

Nisar continued saying that: "They want the system to wrap up. They have dug up mass graves outside the Parliament and are wearing shrouds. They want their people to be killed," adding that he did not believe the PAT was a real political party.

"This is not a peoples’ movement," he said.

The interior minister said that the protesting parties are using women and children as human shields.

He emphasised on the government’s compliance and flexibility in dealing with the two parties.

He also reiterated that the principle demand of both the parties for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to step down remains off the negotiating table. The interior minister said the agenda of the protesting parties was not only undemocratic but against the state as well.