Pakistan's president on Tuesday warned the Supreme Court not to take
action in violation of the constitution, referring to a judicial hearing
into a secret memo seeking to rein in the powerful military, a scandal
that threatens the Pakistani leader.
The political crisis revolves around a memo that was allegedly sent
to Washington with President Asif Ali Zardari's support in May asking
for help in stopping a supposed army coup following the U.S. raid that
killed Osama bin Laden. Zardari has denied the allegations.
There
is long-standing tension between the civilian government and the army
because the military has staged a series of coups and ruled the country
for much of its 64-year history.
The government has opposed the
Supreme Court's decision to open a hearing into the scandal about a week
ago, saying a judicial investigation was unnecessary because parliament
was already looking into the matter. The powerful army, which denied it
intended to carry out a coup and was enraged by the memo, supports the
investigation.
The Supreme Court opened its hearing after
receiving a petition to do so from a handful of opposition politicians _
a common practice in Pakistan.
Zardari warned Supreme Court Chief
Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry to respect the constitution, an indication he
may be worried the judge will team up with the president's opponents to
topple the government. Zardari has clashed with both Chaudhry and the
army since he was elected in 2008.
"Anyone casting a bad eye
intending to break up my federation, I will not let it break," Zardari
told thousands of flag-waving supporters in southern Pakistan in a
speech marking the fourth anniversary of the assassination of his wife,
former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
Zardari did not say exactly
what he meant by the Supreme Court respecting the constitution, or what
he fears might be the result of the inquiry. Many analysts agree the
president enjoys immunity from prosecution while in office
Zardari
said earlier in the day that Pakistanis should pay tribute to his slain
wife by guarding against anti-democratic conspiracies, an apparent
reference to tensions over the memo scandal. He said his wife's death
was also a conspiracy against Pakistani democracy.
"I therefore
urge all the democratic forces and the patriotic Pakistanis to foil all
conspiracies against democracy and democratic institutions," said
Zardari in a statement sent to reporters.
The army-backed Supreme
Court hearing sparked Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to say last week
that a conspiracy was under way to topple the government. He did not
specifically point to the military, but said the army must be answerable
to the parliament and could not act as a "state within a state."
Gilani
eventually backed away from his comments after army chief Gen. Pervez
Ashfaq Kayani denied any intention to stage a coup and promised to
support democracy. The prime minister on Monday denied reports he would
replace Kayani or the army's intelligence chief, Lt. Gen. Shuja Pasha,
to neutralize the threat to his government.
Former Pakistani
ambassador to the U.S., Husain Haqqani, allegedly crafted the memo sent
to Washington, which promised to replace Pakistan's national security
hierarchy with people favorable to the U.S. in exchange for help in
reining in the military. Haqqani has denied the allegations but resigned
in the wake of the scandal.
The bin Laden operation angered
Pakistani officials because they weren't told about it beforehand and
humiliated the army because it was not able to stop the nighttime raid
near Pakistan's equivalent of West Point.
Some analysts have
speculated Haqqani himself manufactured the coup story in an attempt to
increase civilian control over the army. AP
