ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan deployed army troops in Islamabad on Sunday to help restore law and order to the capital, officials said, a day after violent clashes between the police and supporters of an Islamic cleric left at least six people dead and 200 others injured.

The move came after the prime minister and army officials held emergency talks and agreed to send troops to protect vital areas and buildings like Parliament, the prime minister’s residence and the diplomatic enclave that houses embassies.

The military informed the governing party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, that it would rule out the use of lethal force to quell the protest, according to the terms of the deployment in a letter that was shared with The New York Times and circulated by the local news media.

A military spokesman, Maj. Gen. Asif Ghafoor, said the army chief, Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, had urged Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi “to handle the protest peacefully, avoiding violence from both sides as it is not in the national interest.”