Pakistan is going through political turbulence nowadays. Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and other senior officials of the ruling Pakistan People's Party have openly feared a direct military coup or a takeover through judicial dismissal of the government. It is known since the day first of the PPP government that the military establishment does not like President Zardari.
During the four-year of the current administration so far, there have been several public muscle flexing between the military and civilian government i.e. the condemnation of Kerry-Lugar Bill of US aid to Pakistan, which included articles proposed by the PPP Government that strengthened civilian supremacy in Pakistan.
It suggested reducing the US military aid to Pakistan for the first time, while increasing that to the civilian sectors. Similarly, the PPP Government also attempted for the first time in Pakistan's history to bring the powerful military spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence under civilian control, but had to quash the administrative order a day after it was issued.
In Pakistan's over 60 years of history, for half of that period military dictators have ruled the country. And not a single democratically elected government has completed its 5-years tenure. Though the democratically elected civilian governments have had always troubles with military establishment in general, the Pakistan People's Party has history as a, what they call "anti-establishment" party.
The current showdown reached to an ugly edge this week when PM Gilani openly criticized his Chief of Army Staff General Kayani and ISI head Lieutenant General Pasha, which was hit back by the military with a statement saying the Prime Minister's "accusations" will have "serious ramifications" and could bring "potentially grievous consequences for the country".
Normally in a democratic system where governments are elected by popular vote, such a statement from military would have resulted in rolling of some heads, but Pakistan is an exception where military issues warning against the government and expresses public dislike towards its commander-in-chief, President Zardari.
The latest round of spat which could eventually take down the government of PPP started with eruption of Memogate scandal, in which Pakistan's former Ambassador to the US, Hussain Haqqani is accused to have written a memo on behalf of Pakistan's civilian government against its powerful military establishment fearing coup after the killing of Osama bin Ladin last year.
The memo was reportedly drafted by a Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz delivered to Admiral Mike Mullen through Obama Administration's National Security Advisor James Jones. Haqqani later resigned in Islamabad, and the case is under investigation by a special judicial commission on orders by Supreme Court of Pakistan. The military is pushing for the case, and want the government of PM Gilani and President Zardari to be dismissed as a result.
In all this saga, ironically, opposition party Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif whose government was dismissed by General Musharraf, is also pushing the case to score points against the PPP government. The major opposition political parties should let the current government complete its term for the first time in history of Pakistan and transition of power from a civilian government to another happen.