Pakistan's Zardari meets army chief amid tensions

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari met the chief of the powerful army on Saturday for rare face-to-face talks amid a civilian-military standoff that is shaking the government, a spokesman said. The unscheduled talks come against the background of shaky ties between Zardari's weak civilian administration and the military over a probe into a mysterious memo that sought US help in curbing the army's power. "Chief of the army staff General Ashfaq Kayani called on President Zardari in his office today," the president's spokesman Farhatullah Babar told AFP. He gave few details about the meeting beyond that, saying the "current security situation came under discussion". Kayani, widely regarded as the most powerful figure in Pakistan, is also scheduled to attend a meeting of a defence committee late Saturday which comprises senior ministers and military chiefs. "The committee is likely to discuss matters related to defence and national security," a government official said. He declined to comment when asked whether the meeting, to be chaired by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, would help defuse tension between the civilian and military leadership. Pakistan has been under military dictatorships for about half its history since independence in 1947, its civilian leaders thrown out in three coups. But despite current tensions, analysts say another coup is unlikely and they instead predict early elections, possibly in the first half of this year. The "Memogate" scandal centres on an unsigned note allegedly sent by an aide of Zardari to the US military last May, apparently to avert a possible coup after the killing of Osama bin Laden by the US in Pakistan. The memo has pitted the army against Zardari's government and the Supreme Court is now tasked with deciding whether the government endorsed the note, and if so, if it can remain in power. Gilani earlier this week accused the army and intelligence chiefs of failing to make their submissions to the commission investigating the memo through government channels, in an unusually bold interview with Chinese media. The army vociferously denied Gilani's accusation and said it had passed its response through the defence ministry to the court in accordance with the law, ratcheting up tensions between the two sides. Saturday's defence committee meeting is, among other items, expected to finalise recommendations to frame new rules of engagement with NATO following the November 26 air strikes on a border post that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.