Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Gilani and Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani have come face-to-face for the first time since they crossed swords over the memo gate issue.
On Monday, Prime Minister Gilani said during an interview that the Army and Inter-Services Intelligence chief had acted in an "unconstitutional and illegal" manner while submitting affidavits to the Supreme Court on the alleged memo that had sought US help to stave off a possible coup in Pakistan, after the killing of Osama bin Laden in May last year.
The military reacted to Gilani's remarks by saying that they could have "grievous consequences".
Kayani met with the Army's Corps Commanders and his Principal Staff Officers on Thursday to assess options for dealing with the political crisis.
Though the meeting of the Defence Committee of the Cabinet has been convened to discuss the Parliamentary Committee on National Security's recommendations for resetting ties with the US and NATO, sources said that it could give the government and the military an opportunity to address their differences on the memo issue.
There are no indications so far that the Army will engineer another coup to remove the Pakistan People's Party or PPP-led government but analysts said the military may not be averse to any move by the Supreme Court to topple the government for either the memo issue or its failure to reopen high-profile graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.
"There will be no martial law and all players will continue to function within their constitutional limits," an insider was quoted as saying by the Dawn newspaper about yesterday's deliberations between Kayani and his top commanders.
On Monday, Prime Minister Gilani said during an interview that the Army and Inter-Services Intelligence chief had acted in an "unconstitutional and illegal" manner while submitting affidavits to the Supreme Court on the alleged memo that had sought US help to stave off a possible coup in Pakistan, after the killing of Osama bin Laden in May last year.
The military reacted to Gilani's remarks by saying that they could have "grievous consequences".
Kayani met with the Army's Corps Commanders and his Principal Staff Officers on Thursday to assess options for dealing with the political crisis.
Though the meeting of the Defence Committee of the Cabinet has been convened to discuss the Parliamentary Committee on National Security's recommendations for resetting ties with the US and NATO, sources said that it could give the government and the military an opportunity to address their differences on the memo issue.
There are no indications so far that the Army will engineer another coup to remove the Pakistan People's Party or PPP-led government but analysts said the military may not be averse to any move by the Supreme Court to topple the government for either the memo issue or its failure to reopen high-profile graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.
"There will be no martial law and all players will continue to function within their constitutional limits," an insider was quoted as saying by the Dawn newspaper about yesterday's deliberations between Kayani and his top commanders.