ISLAMABAD: In a bewildered National Assembly on Friday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ruled out the chance of taking a U-turn and said that he had not sought the army chief’s intervention to break the deadlock in talks with protesting parties, which have laid a siege to parliament house and are demanding his resignation.

Initially, the house appeared dejected following media reports that the government had asked General Raheel Sharif for a mediation that led to his overnight meetings with Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan and Pakistan Awami Tehreek chief Allama Tahirul Qadri amid widespread concerns of critics about a perceived sidestepping of parliament.

But the mood improved after denial by the prime minister and Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, who put the blame on the other side, and a stirring speech by the Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly, Khursheed Ahmed Shah, against any trampling of the constitution.

Yet the controversy deepened further soon afterwards. As lawmakers were leaving the parliament building after the house was adjourned for a two-day weekend, they heard a furious Allama Qadri roaring on the loudspeaker from a container serving as his temporary home at his party’s sit-in to reject the statements of both the prime minister and the interior minister.

He said that it was the prime minister and his government which had asked Gen Raheel to become a mediator and a guarantor of a settlement.

The prime minister’s explanation seemed more categorical than that of the interior minister, who had earlier said that since the two agitating parties wanted to talk only through or “under the shadow” of the army, the government gave them “space” and a facilitating role to the army.

Mr Sharif, who had held a meeting with the army chief on Thursday for the third time in nine days, said: “Neither the army has asked for a mediatory role nor have we requested (for it). “I don’t know how this (news) got printed.”

He said what actually happened was that Chaudhry Nisar had told him in Lahore of a telephone call informing him about a request from Imran Khan and Allama Qadri to meet the army chief and the general asking for permission to receive them, and: “I said if they want to meet, let them do so.”

But the confusion was to be confounded further with a clarification issued by the military’s Inter-Services Public Relations — as was demanded by the opposition leader — saying that it was the government which had asked the chief of army staff in Thursday’s meeting at Prime Minister House to play a “facilitative role” for the resolution of the crisis.

Terming Khursheed Shah’s speech against any compromise on the constitution and supremacy of parliament as “inspiring” and “a reflection of my own mind”, Mr Sharif said that after what he went through — imprisonment and exile -- after being toppled as prime minister on Oct 12, 1999, “can anybody expect me to take a U-turn? No question arises of that”.

Amid cheers from both sides of the house, he said: “I can sacrifice 10 governments, not one, for my principles which I cannot sacrifice.”

The prime minister said that he would stand by every word of a resolution adopted by the house on Aug 21 committing itself to upholding the constitution and rejecting the protesters’ demands for its dissolution and his resignation.

Appearing in the house for the first time since tens of thousands of PTI and PAT supporters marched from Lahore to Islamabad on Aug 14 for the longest sit-ins in the country’s history, Chaudhry Nisar said of the army role: “We have found a way out instead of erecting a wall of personal ego”.

But he assured the house that nothing would be done outside the limits of the constitution and law.

Khursheed Shah, who received cheers from both the opposition and treasury benches, asked the prime minister to “stand firm” and urged the government to dispel the impression created by the involvement of army in the talks that the constitution and parliament were being compromised.

“We are not worried about saving the government, but we are worried about saving parliament,” he said, adding: “Even if the government bends, we will not do so and will see who dares to wrap up democratic process.”

Accusing the protesting parties of playing “a game of terrorism” in the name of democracy and waving a copy of the constitution, he said: “Your may burn parliament, you may burn the Supreme Court, you may burn Islamabad, but we will not allow you to burn a single page of this constitution.”

Mehmood Khan Achakzai, head of the government-allied Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, endorsed Mr Shah’s views but criticised the government’s delay in clarifying its position about the army chief’s role and said a dozen ministers would have been sacked for that in any civilised country.

Published in Dawn, August 30th, 2014