OMG... Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari amid highest tensions since 1999 coup ...wow!
The tension has raised fears for the stability of Pakistan, a vital but uneasy ally for the United States in its attempt to fight militancy and bring peace to neighbouring Afghanistan
The unpopular president's trip comes as relations between Pakistan's civilian government and the military reached their lowest point since a coup in 1999
Gulf-based Pakistani sources said Zardari would make the trip for a medical check-up. "This trip will be for a follow-up medical check-up and then he'll be returning right away," an associate of Zardari said
A senior member of the ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP) said Zardari had left Pakistan to attend a wedding in Dubai, However. No official confirmation of either story was available immediately
Zardari went to Dubai for medical treatment last month, triggering speculation that a military takeover in the nuclear-armed South Asian nation was imminent. He returned home a couple of weeks later
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11 Jan 2012Pakistan PM sacks defence secretary following rift
11 Jan 2012Which has ruled Pakistan for more than half its 64-year history, since a memo emerged last October purportedly seeking US help to stave off a military coup, Tension has risen between the civilian government and the military
The powerful military warned on Wednesday of "grievous consequences" over reported comments by Prime Minister Yusu Raza Gilani accusing the military of acting unconstitutionally amid the "memogate" scandal
Gilani later sacked the country's top military bureaucrat for unspecified "gross misconduct and illegal action", Deepening the crisis
Although others have played down talk of an imminent showdown, A senior member of the PPP also warned on Wednesday that both sides appeared to be digging in their heels
The military drew rare public criticism after al Qaeda head Osama bin Laden was killed in a unilateral cross-border raid by US special forces troops in a garrison town not far from the Pakistani capital last May
The memo scandal emerged several months later when a Pakistani-born businessman wrote in a column in the Financial Times about the existence of a memo seeking help from the Pentagon to rein in the military
A Zardari ally who was then Pakistan's ambassador in Washington, He later identified the diplomat as Husain Haqqani. Businessman Mansoor Ijaz said a Pakistani diplomat had asked for the memo to be delivered to the Pentagon
Which has resulted in a judicial commission in Pakistan's Supreme Court, Haqqani has denied the allegation but has since resigned in a bid to end the scandal
Zardari could face impeachment proceedings if that commission finds a link between him and the memo
