Islamabad: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday denied claims that he had asked the army chief to mediate between the government and two parties holding sit-in protests in Islamabad.

Speaking at the National Assembly, Sharif said the heads of Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) sought a meeting with army chief General Raheel Sharif.

“Neither we sought army mediation nor the army asked for such a role,” he said.

The prime minister said he gave permission for the army chief to engage PTI leader Imran Khan and PTI chief Tahir-ul-Qadri and play the role of mediator.

Khan and Qadri held separate meetings with the army chief overnight in Rawalpindi during which they both reiterated their demand that the prime minister resign.

Prime Minister Sharif also said he would never compromise on the supremacy of the parliament and the constitution.

Earlier, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan told the assembly that the two groups neither trusted the judiciary nor the parliament or any other institution except for the army.

“Let me make clear that this step [to involve the army] was taken on a request by the protesting parties...the government allowed this facilitation, it should not be interpreted beyond that,” the minister added.

“Bringing the army in to mediate was one of their [PTI and PAT] demands,” the minister said, adding that the army “is apolitical, and is working to bring about a peaceful solution to this crisis within the constitution.”

Nisar claimed that the protesting parties were using the name of the army for their motives. “This is not PTI or PAT’s army, this is Pakistan’s army,” he said.

The minister said the agenda of elements “acting under the garb of democracy” seemed to be “chaos” and “an overthrow of the democratic system.”

He said there were 2,500 women, 180 children and 20 toddlers in the sit-in and they were being used as human shields.

The Interior Minister said that agenda of the protesting parties is to do away with democracy through unconstitutional demands.

Declaring the present time a “critical” moment in the history of the country and the parliament, Nisar reiterated that the government had the backing of civil society and all political parties, barring one.

“On one side we have the elected parliament, supremacy of the constitution and law...and on the other we have the media and a few groups,” he said.

The minister vowed that the demand for the prime minister to step down remains off the negotiating table. He said no one could force the prime minister to resign.

Soon after the National Assembly session, Qadri said the government had “lied to the whole nation”.

“I am not well, but I heard them and came out immediately. They have deceived the nation; they lied on the floor of the national assembly.”

Qadri said the claim by the government and the PM that they did not request the army to act as mediators in this crisis “is a blatant lie. The request to the army chief to mediate came from the prime minister and the government, he maintained.

Khan also said PTI had never requested army mediation and added that the prime minister’s statement in the assembly was a “hundred per cent lie.”

In an impassioned speech in the assembly, Leader of the Opposition Khursheed Shah, from Pakistan People’s Party, underlined that the parliament would defend its sovereignty and uphold the constitution.

Shah demanded that the military should come out with a statement to clarify the situation regarding mediation.