Islamabad: Pakistan’s military called for dialogue as a way out of the ongoing political crisis, while demonstrators from two opposition parties demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif started a sit-in outside the parliament on Wednesday.

Thousands of people marching under the banners of Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and religious scholar Tahirul Qadri’s Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) peacefully entered the capital’s high-security ‘red zone’ in the pre-dawn hours on Wednesday.

It turned out to be an almost violence-free foray into the sensitive zone as police and paramilitary personnel gave the marchers free passage despite earlier government warnings against entry into the area housing key buildings and the diplomatic enclave.

While hectic efforts by political mediators to persuade the PTI and PAT leadership to agree to talks with the government failed, peace prevailed in the sensitive zone following a lengthy meeting between the prime minister and army chief General Raheel Sharif.

In a tweet on Wednesday, a key minister said the prime minister planned to meet the PTI leader.

“It has been decided PM will meet Imran Khan for the sake of country, despite the language which Khan...used against him,” said Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique.

Army troops were guarding the important buildings in the red zone, including the presidency, the PM House, the Supreme Court, PM secretariat and others.

Major General Asim Bajwa, chief military spokesman, said in a statement overnight that “buildings in the Red Zone are symbols of the State and being protected by the army.”

“The situation requires patience, wisdom and sagacity from all stakeholders to resolve prevailing impasse through meaningful dialogue in larger national and public interest,” said the general, who heads the Inter-Services Public Relations.

With the nation’s attention riveted on the developments in Islamabad amid running coverage by local private television channels, demonstrators including women and children started reassembling in the morning.

Supporters in the PAT and PTI camps looked tired, many sitting under the shade of umbrellas. But in remarks to channels both male and female participants expressed determination to stay put as long as their leaders would want them to.

Imran Khan, the 62-year old cricketer-turned-politician, who is holding out promise of building a new Pakistan in line with the principles of Islam, was to address his party workers and supporters in the afternoon to announce next step.

Both he and Qadri, 63, have repeatedly vowed the sit-in would continue until Sharif, who assumed control 14 months ago with stated focus on turning around the national economy, steps down.

The two political leaders claim the Pakistan Muslim League-N government was product of “massively rigged polls” and that it has no right to rule, while the ruling party asserts its democratic credentials and the mandate it won in the nationwide deemed fair also by international observers.

Imran Khan wants mid-term elections but the PAT leader, with a large community of deeply committed supporters, is advocating the formation of what he calls a “national government for democratic reforms and strict accountability to root out the corrupt in politics and other spheres.”

Given the government’s forceful rejection so far of the “unconstitutional” demand for Sharif’s resignation, and the PTI and PAT leaders seemingly unwilling to climb down, uncertainty clouds prospects of a dialogue getting underway.

Life in the capital has been severely disrupted amid the continuing turmoil, with government employees and workers in the establishments located in the red zone unable to report for duty.