Karachi, December 24: Against the backdrop of the political uncertainty caused by the Supreme Court verdict on the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), Pakistan Army chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani met President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday.
Gen. Kayani briefed Mr. Zardari about “professional issues” and “security matters,” the state-run Pakistan Television said quoting unnamed officials in the presidency.
A release from the Prime Minister’s office said the two discussed matters of national security. A revised release added that the discussions between Mr. Gilani and Gen. Kayani lasted over two hours.
The meetings came in a fraught political atmosphere with the ruling Pakistan People’s Party making it clear that there will be no resignations from the government of those against whom corruption cases have been revived following the Supreme Court annulment of the NRO.
The PPP has taken the line that it is being victimised and will not succumb to what it has termed as a “conspiracy” against it.
On Tuesday, Mr. Gilani met Punjab Chief Minister and Pakistan Muslim League leader Shahbaz Sharif, and is reported to have conveyed that the PPP will resist any attempts to oust it from the government.
The meeting took place at the initiative of Mr. Gilani in the wake of demands by the PML(N) for the resignation of Mr. Zardari and other tainted members of the government.
Mr. Gilani is said to have warned Mr. Sharif that the entire democratic system could collapse if an attempt was made to remove Mr. Zardari or the PPP government.
The PML(N) is said to have promised that it will not press for the resignation of President Zardari, if the PPP in turn promised to cut back the powers of the presidency added on by the former President, Pervez Musharraf, through a constitutional amendment, known as the 17th amendment.
The PML(N) has demanded that the 17th amendment be abolished and Mr. Zardari, who has several times promised to shed his powers under this amendment but has never delivered, is now said to be seriously considering it.
In the light of all these developments, the meetings between the Army chief and the two top functionaries are being seen as extremely significant. Although the official line is that the discussions in both cases centred on security issues, the unofficial word is that the post-NRO verdict political scenario was the chief topic of the meetings.
–Agencies