Gilani plays down confrontation with Army in Pak parliament's special session

Islamabad: At the end of a tumultuous week, Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has sought to play down his government's confrontation with the country's military, saying "we are not against the Army". His government and Pakistan's powerful military have been in confrontation mode over the last few days, fuelling fears of a coup. There has also been pressure on the government to step down and early elections seem a distinct possibility.

Speaking in an emergency sitting of Pakistan's Parliament, Mr Gilani also sought to address an uncomfortable equation with the judiciary. "I am the elected Prime Minister, the courts should trust me," Mr Gilani said.

All eyes in Pakistan are now fixed on the Supreme Court, which will on Monday hear two crucial cases - in one the government has been charged with inaction on cases of corruption against President Asif Ali Zardari. The Supreme Court has earlier warned that action could be taken against the President and the Prime Minister for failing to reopen the high-profile corruption cases.

The other is the memogate scandal - the bizarre and controversial case of an unsigned memo sent to the US military to seek its help in weakening Pakistan's military soon after the raid that killed Osama bin Laden last year. The memo has pitted the army against Mr Zardari's weak civilian administration, and the Supreme Court is now tasked with deciding if the government endorsed the note, and if so, if it can remain in power.

Also on Monday, Pakistan's Parliament will vote to repose faith in the democratically-elected Zardari government through a resolution moved by Prime Minister Gilani today. While doing so he stated that his government needed no confidence vote, but wanted to strengthen democracy and the country's Parliament. Mr Gilani said his government, made up of "political people" may have made mistakes, "but democracy should not suffer" for that.

President Zardari returned from Dubai early on Friday morning and his office said he was not worried about the political crisis that is gripping his country. Mr Zardari's trip to Dubai yesterday has been described as a personal trip to attend a wedding. He had traveled last month to Dubai for medical reasons, triggering rumors that he was on the verge of resigning. Asked today whether Mr Zardari was concerned about the challenges his government faced, his spokesman Farhatullah Babar said, "Absolutely not. Why should he be?"

As Mr Zardari left the country yesterday, Army chief Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani met his top commanders, but fears of a military coup seem to have ebbed for now wth analysts saying that early elections are a more plausible outcome of the crisis. The analysts say that Gen Kayani doesn't want a coup because the army is fighting Islamist militants, the country is facing economic ruin and seizing power would trigger domestic and international criticism. But they say the generals may be happy to allow the Supreme Court to dismiss Mr Zardari if it can find a "constitutional" way to do so.

"Better sense will prevail. There will be no coup," said analyst Imtiaz Gul. "The centre of gravity basically is the Supreme Court right now and if anything at all (is carried out) against the government it will move from within the Supreme Court, it will not come from within the army." He said all "the indicators are for early elections."

The army erupted in fury on Wednesday over public criticism from Prime Minister Gilani. He told the Chinese media, at a time when Gen Kayani was visiting China, that the chiefs of the army and main intelligence agency, the ISI, had acted "an unconstitutional and illegal" manner while making submissions to the Supreme Court on the memogate scandal.

The army warned that Mr Gilani's comments could have "grievous consequences for the country", triggering the immediate sacking of defence secretary Lt Gen Naeem Lodhi, who was considered too close to the generals. The Cabinet Secretary Nargis Sethi has been given additional charge of Defence Secretariat but there are rumbles from the military that it will not cooperate with the new functionary. Sethi is seen as close to PM Gilani.

Pakistan has been under military dictatorships for about half its history since independence in 1947, its civilian leaders thrown out in three coups.

General elections had been expected in early 2013, but the predicted date has crept forward as the memo scandal has rumbled on and are now tipped for 2012, with some saying they could take place in the first half of the year.