'Not another coup, please': Pakistani media tells army

ISLAMABAD: Not another coup, please', was the advice given by the Pakistani media today to the powerful military, which is engaged in a major stand off with the weak civilian government over the memo scandal.

The standoff - which reached a head yesterday after the army warned that Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's recent remarks could have "grievous consequences" and Gilani sacked the Defence Secretary - dominated the front pages of newspapers.

The media suggested both the military and the government to address their differences in an atmosphere of sanity to end the standoff bedevilling the country.

Noting that Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's criticism of the army and ISI chiefs' actions as "unconstitutional and illegal" would have resulted in a coup 10 or 15 years ago, the influential Dawn newspaper said: "But with a raucous media and a fierce Supreme Court now in the mix, the space for a direct and unconstitutional intervention by the army appears to have been eroded."

"One week the country pulls back from the brink; the next week it is back on the brink none of it adds up to a prediction that can be made with any degree of certainty. We can only hope that better sense prevails all around," it said in its editorial titled 'Dangerous times'.

Given Pakistan's "painful history" of army interventions, "there is at least something positive in the present state of affairs," the daily noted.

The Express Tribune, in its editorial titled 'Not another coup, please' reflected on the Pakistani military's long history of flouting the Constitution and acting against the civilian administration.