ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s prime minister on Friday denied asking the country’s military chief to mediate with opposition leaders and protesters who have camped for two weeks outside parliament in the capital, Islamabad, demanding his resignation over alleged voting fraud.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s remarks to the National Assembly indicated that talks with the opposition — with or without army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif’s mediation — were unlikely to produce a breakthrough in the crisis.