Zardari gets in talking mode with military to defuse tensions

A brief statement issued by the presidency said Zardari and Wynne discussed professional matters pertaining to the armed forces.

By PTI | Updated: Jan 17, 2012, 04.15 PM IST

Islamabad: Even as temperatures have soared in Islamabad over the Gilani-Kayani face-off, the presidency and the Pakistani military are engaged in parleys aimed at defusing the tensions between the two sides over memo scandal.

Away from the storm generated by the Supreme Court’s contempt notice issued to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani yesterday for failing to reopen high-profile graft cases, talks continued between the government and the military establishment for defusing the situation.

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen Khalid Shameem Wynne met President Asif Ali Zardari at the presidency yesterday for a follow-up meeting to talks held between the President and army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani over the weekend, a newspaper quoted a source as saying.

A brief statement issued by the presidency said Zardari and Wynne discussed professional matters pertaining to the armed forces.

However, sources said the two leaders focussed on finding a way out of the ongoing impasse.

Though there was no certainty about how the civil-military talks were progressing, there were “hints that some progress is being made,” the report said.

An unnamed army official told the newspaper that Kayani had made no demand during his meeting with Zardari that the Prime Minister should retract comments about the army chief acting unconstitutionally in his handling of the memo issue.

The official said the meeting between the army chief and the President was held “for lowering temperatures rather than raising it.”

The presidency too has denied media reports that Kayani had asked Zardari to tell the Prime Minister to explain or retract his comments about the army and intelligence chiefs acting in an “unconstitutional and illegal” manner while filing affidavits on the memo issue in the Supreme Court.

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