Zardari flies to Dubai as Kayani meets army brass

Brief respite

Islamabad, Jan. 12 (Agencies): Pakistan's President left the country today for what was described as a one-day private visit to Dubai, amid a deepening crisis between the government and the powerful military, officials said.

Fears of a military coup waned somewhat with the focus shifting to a crucial hearing by the Supreme Court on Monday.

The Prime Minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, has called a meeting of the cabinet's defence committee for Saturday and the army chief will attend, a government official said, in a possible sign of efforts to reduce friction.

The court has scheduled a hearing of a case relating to alleged corruption in the Pakistan government in which President Asif Ali Zardari also figures. It has threatened to take action against Gilani for not acting on such cases.

Early last month, Zardari travelled to Dubai for medical treatment, triggering rumours that he was either being pushed out by the army or was fleeing a potential coup. He returned after a few weeks, but tensions have continued to soar in the country, with critics gleefully predicting the government's imminent downfall.

The officials said that the President would attend a wedding in Dubai and would be back in Pakistan this morning, in a trip unconnected to the current crisis. They did not give their names because they were not authorised to release the information.

As Zardari left, military chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani met top commanders, media reports and a military officer said, fuelling speculation about the army's next move in the political crisis.

A meeting between the army chief and his top commanders is bound to fuel speculation that the generals, who set security and foreign policies, have lost patience with the unpopular Zardari.

Senior officers discussed in detail "prevailing conditions," a source told Reuters, highlighting fears for the economic and political stability of Pakistan, a vital but uneasy ally for the US in its attempt to fight militancy and bring peace to Afghanistan.

Most analysts say Kayani does not 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 a Supreme Court hostile to the government to dismiss Zardari if it can find a "constitutional" way to do so.

Yesterday, Gilani fired the defence secretary in a rare public display of assertiveness by the civilian government against the army, as the fallout from a scandal centered on a memo written to Washington asking for its help in reining in the generals widened.

The court, regarded as an ally of the army, is investigating that affair and a second one linked to past corruption cases against the President. Both could potentially be used as a pretext to oust the current civilian leadership.

The army has ruled Pakistan for much of its six-decade existence, and still sees itself as the rightful custodian of the country's interests. No civilian government has ever completed its term in office.

The Zardari government, which was democratically elected in 2008, is determined to see out its term. Zardari's opponents may be eager to bring the crisis to a head and dissolve the parliament before the March senate elections.

The body's lower house, currently dominated by the President's party, directly elects senators who serve a six-year term. If the elections are held with the current parliament in place, Zardari's allies will have a strong foothold in government till 2018.

The leader of the country's main Opposition party, Nawaz Sharif, is no friend of the army and would have little to gain if the military pushed Zardari out. But he brought the memo scandal to the attention of the Supreme Court, and is trying to exploit the chaos and push for early polls.