ISLAMABAD: Pakistani opposition groups agreed Wednesday to resume talks with the government about a political crisis that has rocked the country but a stalemate over demands for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s resignation dragged on.

The move came after days of clashes between police and club-wielding protesters demanding Sharif’s resignation left three dead and hundreds injured, raising fears the powerful military may intervene.

The protests are led by cricket hero turned politician Imran Khan and populist Canadian cleric Tahirul Qadri, who both claim that the 2013 general election which swept Sharif to power was heavily rigged.

Thousands of their followers have set up camp in Islamabad’s sensitive “Red Zone” government district since Aug. 15, but their calls to overthrow the administration have not mobilized mass support in the country of 180 million.

Some of the pressure on Sharif eased Tuesday after opposition parties in Parliament backed him to continue, and after a senior member of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party said his leader had acted on the army’s direction — damaging the movement’s credibility.

Parliament called a second special session on Wednesday which PTI members attended.

Senior PTI leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi said his party was willing to resume talks with the government in the presence of a cross-party team.

“We are ready to negotiate, ready to solve the matter, ready to break the silence. Imran Khan hasn’t done all this for himself or Tehreek-e-Insaaf, he has done it for the better future of Pakistan,” he said.

“We have decided to present our point of view in the opposition jirga (negotiation team).”

The cross-party team was also set to meet Qadri’s Pakistan Awami Tehreek movement, a spokesman for the cleric said.

Siraj-ul-Haq, chief of the religious Jamaat-e-Islami party who is leading the talks confirmed the move to AFP.

Khan’s party wants Sharif to step down for at least 30 days so that an impartial probe can be conducted into last year’s election.

A source close to the talks told AFP: “All other matters have been resolved but the main issue is still on table, which is Nawaz Sharif’s resignation. We are trying to sort out a middle way out of it,” he added.

Army says 900 militants killed so far

Pakistan’s military said Wednesday it had killed more than 900 militants and lost 82 soldiers since the start of a major operation against the Taleban in the tribal northwest in June.

The military began a long-awaited push to clear insurgent bases from North Waziristan district, on the Afghan border, after a bloody attack on Karachi airport finally sank stuttering peace talks with the rebels.

Air strikes, artillery, mortars and ground troops have all been used to retake territory in North Waziristan, which had become a haven for fighters with Tehreek-e-Taleban Pakistan (TTP) and other terror outfits.

The military said the major towns of Miranshah and Mir Ali had now been cleared of insurgents, along with a strategically important 90-kilometer road through North Waziristan.

“Since start of the operation, 910 terrorists have been killed. 82 soldiers have embraced shahadat (martyrdom) in entire country while fighting against terrorism and 269 were injured,” the military said in a statement.

The conflict zone is off-limits to journalists, so there is no way to independently verify the number and identity of those killed. The Taleban later gave a sharply lower figure for the number of insurgents killed.

The military toll includes 42 militants killed outside of the tribal areas in more than 2,000 of what the military called “intelligence-led coordinated operations” to prevent reprisal terror attacks elsewhere in the country.

The latest figures represent a significant increase on an AFP tally based on regular operational updates from the military, which recorded 632 militant deaths up to August 30 and 29 soldiers.

A security official said the discrepancy had arisen because intense ground operations around Mir Ali in recent weeks have produced a high number of casualties.

“So far, security forces have cleared major towns of Miranshah, Mirali, Datta Khel, Boya and Degan in North Waziristan, which were considered strongholds of terrorists,” the military statement said.

The army statement gave no details of civilian casualties, but reports from residents fleeing the fighting have indicated numerous civilians have been killed.

After one set of air strikes in Shawal Valley in July, multiple accounts by residents said 37 civilians were killed, including 20 women and 10 children.

The military has said civilians were given plenty of warning to leave conflict areas and accused militants of using them as “human shields.” The operation is ongoing.

The umbrella Tehreek-e-Taleban Pakistan (TTP) later issued a statement accusing the army of grossly exaggerating its claims and killing mostly civilians.

“Fact is that in this war only 25 to 30 of our companions have embraced (martyrdom); on the other hand during bombardment more than five dozen (72) civilians have embraced (martyrdom),” the statement, signed by spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan and written in English said.

“It is worth mentioning that before the operation started Mujahideen had already shifted their bomb factories and training centers into safe places,” it added.

Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal areas on the Afghan border have for years been a hideout for Islamist militants of all stripes — including Al-Qaeda and the homegrown TTP as well as foreign fighters such as Uzbeks and Uighurs.

Washington pressed Islamabad for years to take action to wipe out sanctuaries in North Waziristan, which militants have used to launch attacks on NATO forces in neighboring Afghanistan.

There have been fears that many top militants also fled, including fighters from the feared Haqqani network which is blamed for numerous bloody attacks in Afghanistan.