Pakistan's powerful Army Chief has stepped in to mediate between the embattled government and the protesters, but the two sides were soon trading charges on who was responsible for the intervention.
"Neither had I asked army nor the armed forces sought a role in the present political crisis," Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif told the National Assembly today.
Sharif scotched media reports that it was he who "requested" the army to come to his rescue, saying it was Khan and Qadri who approached Army Chief Raheel Sharif to become a mediator.
Responding to Sharif's statement, an angry Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chairman Qadri shot back, "I say this categorically that the Prime Minister asked the army to intervene. I am saying, on the record, that we did not make any request asking the army to intervene."
"I had not even spoken to the army chief before our meeting yesterday. Imran Khan did not make any request asking the army to intervene either," Qadri said, adding that Sharif made the statement after he saw his government was losing strength.
"If I have said something false then I am willing to accept any punishment," Qadri said addressing his supporters. The fiery cleric claimed that Sharif was lying.
