ISLAMABAD, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan's top military commanders on Sunday showed concerns at the ongoing political crisis in the country and called for immediate and peaceful solution to the crisis.
The corps commanders attended a meeting at the army's headquarters in Rawalpindi at a time when supporters of two opposition parties have clashed with the police and security personnel, which left three people dead and injured nearly 500.
The clashes erupted late Saturday when the protestors tried to storm the Prime Minister House and Parliament Houses.
Pakistan political party Tehrik-e-Insaf's chief Imran Khan and religious party Pakistan Awami Tehreek's chief Tahir ul Qadri have camped thousands of their supporters to mount pressure on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Both leaders call for the resignation of the prime minister. The government has ruled out resignation of the prime minister.
As there was not let up in the political crisis, the country's army chief General Raheel Sharif convened an emergency conference of the top commanders to review the situation.
While reaffirming support to democracy, the conference reviewed with serious concern the existing political crisis and the violent turn it has taken, resulting in large scale injuries and loss of lives.
"Further use of force will only aggravate the problem," the military said in a statement at the conclusion of the conference.
"It was once again reiterated that the situation should be resolved politically without wasting any time and without recourse to violent means," the statement said.
The statement said the army remains committed to playing its part in ensuring security of the state and will never fall short of meeting national aspirations.
Hours earlier Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif presided over a high level meeting in Islamabad and renewed offer of talks to the two opposition leaders, officials said.
Imran Khan and Qadri have refused to hold talks with the government and announced they would continue protests until the prime minister resigns and hold fresh elections. The prime minister has rejected resignation calls.
The meeting maintained that the government adopted the path of negotiations but was betrayed and an invasion was made despite prior commitment. "It was agreed that this undemocratic onslaught should be withdrawn and parties should come back to the negotiation table."
The meeting condemned the attack on the parliament and an attempt to storm the Prime Minister House and regarded it undemocratic and unconstitutional.
The meeting also decided to convene joint session of parliament on Tuesday to review the situation and chalk out a united stand against the attempt to derail the current system.
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