PAKISTAN'S Prime Minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, has appealed for support from parliament against political threats, asking legislators to choose between ''democracy and dictatorship'' in a vote of confidence due tomorrow.
| Support? From the Pakistaini parliament? What can they do? |
A resolution prepared by the government pledges ''full confidence and trust'' in the political leadership and, pointedly, asks ''all institutions to act within constitutional limits''.
Pakistan's government is locked in a fierce stand-off with the country's two other powerful institutions of state: the ever-influential military, with whom its relationship has collapsed, and an activist Supreme Court apparently determined to have the government removed.
The government, with a comfortable majority in parliament, will likely have its resolution passed but will take little comfort from it.
| There's a reason for that... |
Rumours of a military coup have swept Pakistan in recent days, fanned partly by President Asif Ali Zardari's sudden, although brief, departure from the country. The speculation has since cooled, with army sources saying soldiers will stay in barracks. |